Assignment Question
Latin America’s so-called Left Turn at the beginning of the 21st century brought to power a variety of Leftist Presidents. One common view at the time held that there were two distinct variants of the Left: a ‘bad’ radical populist Left, and a ‘good’ social democratic moderate Left. In this taxonomy, social democrats are open-minded and modern, while populists are closed-minded and strident. We read two essays by Maxwell Cameron and Kurt Weyland that critiqued the view that the Left could be divided into bad populists and good social democrats. What were their critiques? Do you agree or disagree with the arguments made by Cameron and Weyland against this simple dichotomy? Be sure to explain your position.