Populism is not a realistic longterm view on running politics. Populism is cantered around those in society who are in middle class or those at the bottom. Although much of populism benefits the people it does so at the expense of the political leaders. Such as is the example of Eva Peron.
First off, seeing the people wanting a woman in power was shocking. As even in our modern society now we fail to elect a woman in such a high position of power, only most recently did America elect a woman into office. However knowing that they were in a populist state, made sense as to why they wanted Evita in power. She herself did not come from much, in her speech she even refers to herself as such “I am but a woman of the people, one of the descamisadas of our Fatherland, a descamisada to the core.” She is cut from the same cloth as the people, she views herself just as a regular Argentine woman. In her life she had done countless humanitarian good within Argentina. Although all she did was pour her whole heart into Argentina and its people, the elite viewed her as something else. They called her a whore for they believed she slept her way to the top, and they disagreed with her way on politics. Evita welcomed such noise from the elite as she used it to charge up her people, the Argentine people. She refereed to those who attacked her as an attack on Peron, an attack on the government. I enjoyed reading this as to see someone who holds such influence not just fall into what the elite wanted, she had her own opinions and thoughts.
Although the elites could not sway her to change her views, her people could. The Argentine people wanted so badly for her to be the Vice President, they wanted her to be Evita Peron. Yet all she wanted to be viewed as is Evita, a woman of the people, she did not believe she was worthy of being in such place a power. As we see in her speech, she is sobbing, begging the people not to make her do this. It is obvious that she feels this isn’t the right thing for her to do, yet we also know she has devoted her whole life to Argentina and its people. Therefore, we do see her end up folding, she declares to run for Vice President. Not for herself but for her people. Populism did this, it created a strong bond between the people and Evita, that she felt she had no other choice. She was battling cancer at the time, but she put everything aside for the people.
Once again showing how populism does have its benefit for the people but also is not sustainable for a well efficient government.
Discussion questions?
- If you were in Evita’s position would you have done the same thing? why or why not?
- Is populism an effective way of government?
- Would populism have more of an impact in Latin America or America/Canada?
mirella reichenbach livoti
November 11, 2020 — 4:07 pm
Hi Samantha,
At the beginning of your post you wrote, “populism is not a realistic longterm view on running politics.” I’m not sure I agree with you. For example, in Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was a populist politician, served as president from 2003 to 2011. I guess it depends on what you mean when you say longterm. Possibly, after years of a populist government there comes a time when the elites with the support of the middle class will want to elect a different form of government.
In response to your second question, I think it depends. Populism is effective in mobilizing people, mainly the working class, and offering them certain opportunities that they could not previously have access to. During Lula’s government poverty in Brazil decreased significantly and we saw more people from the lower social classes attending university. Of course, his government was leftist but populism can occur throughout the political spectrum. In my personal opinion, I think that certain aspects of his government demonstrate that populism can be effective.
David Darbinian
November 11, 2020 — 11:56 pm
Hello,
I think that populism can have a large effect in any region. When I look at Trump’s slogan of “Make America Great Again”, questions are raised like “when was it great?” and “how to make it great?”. By making a vague statement like “Make America Great Again”, which can have a lot of different meanings to a lot of different people, I think Trump exemplified this populist characteristic of “us” against “them” – in this case “them” being anything hindering the US. So in my opinion, I don’t know whether populism necessarily has more of an impact in a given region, but that it can have a large impact in US, Canada, and Latin America seems pretty clear to me.
Nitya Ramirez Machado
November 14, 2020 — 11:39 pm
Hi Samantha, thanks for your post. As for your first question, accepting or not accepting the nomination to be vice president depends on how the candidat feels about their responsibility or rather, obligation to their country. In the case of Evita Peron, she addresses the people with passion and sentiment, creating a strong emotional bond, which probably pressured her into not wanting to disappoint her supporters. If I had been in her position with thousands of people pleading to accept the nomination, truthfully I would have temporarily accepted it. Firstly out of the own notion of “I owe it to the people” and out of fear of the rejection causing violence. Once the crowds dispersed, I would inform that I cannot take such a position, just like Evita Perron did.