Comparative content analysis of foreign policy discourse and strategies of populist leaders in Latin America

Populism in Latin America has deeply affected the political life of the region since the beginning of the nineteenth century. There are prominent populist figures in the politics of the regional states. This thesis study evaluates Latin American populism through the relationship between populism and foreign policy, which is neglected in the populism literature. Since the research universe is very large, a sample was chosen from among the populists who have been in power since 2018. In order to represent the research universe, Bukele representing the center right, Obrador representing the center left and Bolsonaro representing the extreme right were included in the research. The speeches of these Latin American populists in international organizations, visits and many press conferences were selected as data and these were analyzed by qualitative discourse analysis method. Their discourses were coded sentence by sentence, the codes were combined to reach the categories and finally the themes emerged. There are common themes frequently mentioned by the selected populists. The most important of these is the emphasis on principles of sovereignty of states and the non-interference in internal affairs. Whether called right or left populist, the world of populists is based on a strict application of this principle. They do not tolerate criticism from foreign countries or organizations for any policy they implement in domestic politics, even if this policy includes anti-democratic aspect, human rights violations, global problems, and may endanger the future of humanity. On the other hand, they have complaints about the international status quo and this is reflected in their discourse. This thesis study has encountered many discourses that create anti-status quo discourse, reformist attitudes towards international organizations, anti-corruption and popular-elite discrimination in the discourses of Latin American populists. Considering all these, common discourses of left and right tones of populism in foreign policy have been encountered.