Los tiempos del populismo. Devenir de una categoría polisémica

The objective in this paper is, firstly, to examine the elements which have contributed to the image of populism as a polysemic category. One of the bases for this reconstruction is understanding the ways in which the word ‘populism’ itself has functioned as a synonym for other conceptualizations, such as cesarism or bonapartism, for example. At the same time, there are examples where populism has been looked at from a less pejorative perspective, above all in the writing of Ernesto Laclau, who uses less derogatory synonyms such as ‘emancipation’ or ‘the expansion of citizenship.’ Secondly, and without entering into a discussion about the validity of the condemnation or vindication of populism, we will try to establish exactly what this polysemy is, and the respective value implications which have led to the survival of populism as a theoretical and descriptive category of political realities in Latin America since the mid-20th century.