Latin American social democracy asks to speak.The political account of the second presidency of Michelle Bachelet (2014-2018)

Abstract

During the past two decades, a set of progressive leaders came to the presidency in Latin America. Specialized literature divided this ideological phenomenon, known as the «New Latin American Left», into two groups: populists and social democrats. Given the vast bibliography in political communication that dealt with the populist case, this work seeks to explore, through the study of Michelle Bachelet’s second presidency (2014-‍2018), the political narrative of Latin American social democracy. To fulfill this purpose, the article conceptualizes the political story, identifies its functions, and makes its analysis operational through five variables: plot, dichotomous script, verb tense, symbolic repertoire, and presidential ethos. The results show a line of argument linked to inclusion, the construction of a generic adversary such as inequality, a chronological thread that links the transformation of education with a horizon of expectations, the self-representation of a female president who defends gender equality and the circulation of an aesthetic subject to the protocol of the executive power. As conclusions, we highlight that the social democratic story presents similarities with populism, the elaboration of an abstract rival, and differences, the institutional vocation instead of personalism and the reformist approach instead of the rupturist perspective.