Skip to main content

Open Access The arrival of the populist radical right in Chile : José Antonio Kast and the “Partido Republicano”

This article is Open Access under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY licence.

Abstract

Despite the increasing influence of populist radical right (PRR) forces at the global level, they have been absent in Chile until very recently. Today, however, the conditions seem to be ripe for the consolidation of the PRR in the country. As we show in this contribution, José Antonio Kast and the Partido Republicano advance a programmatic agenda that emphasizes authoritarian, nativist, and populist ideas. We also demonstrate certain peculiarities of this political project, which differentiates it from its European brethren. In fact, the party has adopted very clear neoliberal positions and puts much more emphasis on outgroup distinctions within rather than outside the nation. Moreover, given that José Antonio Kast and the Partido Republicano maintain a very fluid relationship with the mainstream right, collaboration between the two seems much simpler and more feasible than in most European cases.

Keywords: Chile; democracy; mainstream right; populist radical right

Document Type: Research Article

Publication date: June 16, 2023

This article was made available online on May 24, 2023 as a Fast Track article with title: "The arrival of the populist radical right in Chile.José Antonio Kast and the “Partido Republicano”".

  • Access Key
  • Free content
  • Partial Free content
  • New content
  • Open access content
  • Partial Open access content
  • Subscribed content
  • Partial Subscribed content
  • Free trial content