The Same Script, Different Actors: Left-Wing and Right-Wing Populism as a Gateway to Authoritarianism in Nicaragua and El Salvador

Abstract

At first glance, one could argue that the Nicaragua of Ortega and the El Salvador of Bukele are isolated scenarios, since they are authoritarianisms of distinct ideologies, Ortega from the left and Bukele from the right; however, they have more in common than it appears. Their main similarity lies in the way both dictators implemented populism in the pursuit of power and in how, to this day, they continue to use it to maintain that power and justify their actions. In this sense, it is worth revisiting the research and theories of the Dutch political scientist Cas Mudde (2004), who in his work The Populist Zeitgeist. Government and Opposition offers a definition of the concept of populism and its main characteristics, which are notably fulfilled in the cases of Ortega and Bukele.