Liberal, radical, o populista y clientelar: Tres visiones sobre la relación entre sociedad civil y Estado en Latinoamérica

Abstract

With very few exceptions, it is considered that Latin American states fail to build genuinely democratic relations (neither 'liberal' nor 'radical') with their respective societies, since they fall into the third and most inauthentic option, the 'populist'. Populism would be characterized by the co-option of civil society (understood as well as NGOs and social movements) by the State through the intentional maintenance of high levels of social inequality and the use of clientelistic networks. The purpose of this article is to analyze each of these views and determine to what extent it can be said that these categories help to understand Latin American political reality.