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Libertarian Populism? Making Sense of Javier Milei’s Political Discourse

Author

Listed:
  • Reinhard Heinisch

    (Department of Political Science, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria)

  • Oscar Gracia

    (Centro de Investigación en Comunicación y Humanidades, Universidad Privada Boliviana, La Paz 0201-0220, Bolivia)

  • Andrés Laguna-Tapia

    (Centro de Investigación en Comunicación y Humanidades, Universidad Privada Boliviana, La Paz 0201-0220, Bolivia)

  • Claudia Muriel

    (Centro de Investigación en Comunicación y Humanidades, Universidad Privada Boliviana, La Paz 0201-0220, Bolivia)

Abstract

This study seeks to understand the political discourse of Javier Milei and to determine which concept of populism best captures his approach. Although perceived by many as a populist, Milei is unusual in that he sees himself as a liberal libertarian and defender of the West against collectivist policies. To this end, this study analyzes selected speeches by Milei from three different periods during and after the 2024 presidential election campaign and applies a deductive coding scheme designed to identify ideational populism, populist discursive framing, populism as strategy, and populism as crisis performance. The analysis confirms that Milei is at best a partial populist, as he fails to define the core populist concept of “the people”. It concludes that the concept of crisis performance emerges as the most apt theoretical framework to classify Milei’s type of populism. By rhetorically transforming the crisis not only into an existential economic issue but also into a moral tale of corruption and failure at the highest levels, he can appeal for radical change and offer himself as the national political savior. Milei’s discourse also illustrates that, unlike ideological populism or discursive populist framing, in the performative turn, the victims of the crisis, the people, often remain a vague signifier defined by their suffering at the hands of elites.

Suggested Citation

  • Reinhard Heinisch & Oscar Gracia & Andrés Laguna-Tapia & Claudia Muriel, 2024. "Libertarian Populism? Making Sense of Javier Milei’s Political Discourse," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-27, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2024:i:11:p:599-:d:1513841
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Margaret Canovan, 1999. "Trust the People! Populism and the Two Faces of Democracy," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 47(1), pages 2-16, March.
    2. Koen Abts & Stefan Rummens, 2007. "Populism versus Democracy," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 55, pages 405-424, June.
    3. Koen Abts & Stefan Rummens, 2007. "Populism versus Democracy," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 55(2), pages 405-424, June.
    4. Kirk A. Hawkins & Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser, 2018. "Measuring populist discourse in the United States and beyond," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 241-242, April.
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