Populismo: ¿izquierdas y derechas?

Abstract

El articulo parte de la discusion actual sobre si la proliferacion de los asi denominados populismos de derecha invalida o no la tesis de Laclau de que el populismo es un tipo de articulacion que puede dar un sentido emancipatorio a la iniciativa politica. Dicho debate que se ha presentado fundamentalmente bajo la oposicion binaria populismos de derechas frente a populismos de izquierda tiene a dos voces contrapuestas, las de Fassin y Mouffe, que el texto se propone revisar, desde una perspectiva laclausiana, a partir de dos preguntas que se desprenden de las posiciones politicas de los autores: ?es posible, como desearia Fassin, eludir o eliminar el populismo? ?Es posible distinguir entre un populismo de derechas y uno de izquierdas, como propone Mouffe? The article takes as a point of departure the current discussion about the proliferation of the so called right-wing populisms that put into question Laclau’s thesis that populism is a sort of articulation that may bring about emancipatory directions to politics. This debate, that has recently taken the format of an opposition between right-wing populism vs. leftwing populisms, has two main competing voices —Fassin and Mouffe— that the text reviews from a Laclausian perspective. The two questions addressed, that rise from the political position of each author, are the following: is it possible to eliminate populism as Fassin would prefer? Is it possible to establish a differentiation between right-wing and left-wing populism as Mouffe affirms?