The Battle of Words: Why Do We Talk About “Far Right” and Not “Far Left”? Interview with Edurne Uriarte

Abstract

In recent decades, public debate in Spain and Latin America has been marked by a notable asymmetry in the use of political language, particularly in the way academia, the press, and institutions refer to actors on the left and the right. In this interview, Dr. Edurne Uriarte, Professor of Political Science at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid and Member of the Spanish Congress of Deputies for the Partido Popular, whom I thank for her time and willingness to participate, analyzes the academic and media bias that has normalized the use of labels such as "ultra" and "strongman leader" exclusively for the right, along with the discursive mechanisms through which the left's project has been historically associated with progressivism and democracy, even under autocratic and authoritarian regimes. Finally, she reflects on the "Battle of Ideas" that, in her view, the right must claim and promote in order to contest the left's discursive and political dominance, offering a holistic perspective on the present and future of ideological debate in the region and the world.