From Washington to Madrid: The Latin American New Right’s Spin on History

Abstract

This article contrasts the ways in which the neoliberal Latin American right of the 1990s and today’s new reactionary right have interpreted and used the past. Scholars have studied several dimensions of this transformation. However, the role played by the use and abuse of national histories in this shift has not been carefully examined. While the neoliberal movement embraced universalist market principles and sought to break with the past, today’s radical right reframes history as a key political battleground. The article focuses particularly on how both the colonial era and the years of military rule are reinterpreted historically. It argues that this shift provides the new right with an intellectual basis to redefine citizenship in exclusionary terms.