¿Los populistas realmente «limpian la casa»? Análisis de la corrupción y la gobernanza en la América Latina contemporánea
Resumen
Este artículo examina la relación entre populismo y corrupción en América Latina dentro de un marco comparativo global que abarca 135 países, incluidos 26 en el continente americano. Los líderes populistas suelen llegar al poder mediante una retórica que promete combatir la corrupción mientras denuncia a las élites corruptas, pero sus gobiernos con frecuencia debilitan la rendición de cuentas y la participación. Con una base de datos de panel de largo plazo (1946–2022) y comparaciones dentro de cada país entre períodos populistas y no populistas, el análisis no encuentra una reducción significativa de la corrupción política percibida durante los episodios populistas. Esta paradoja —entre las promesas anticorrupción y la ausencia de resultados— sugiere que el impacto del populismo radica más en erosionar los mecanismos de gobernanza que en fortalecer la integridad. La resiliencia institucional, más que la movilización populista, es el factor clave para el control de la corrupción.
Referencias bibliográficas
Benczes, I., & Szabó, K. (2023). An Economic Understanding of Populism: A Conceptual Framework of the Demand and the Supply Side of Populism. Political Studies Review, 21(4), 680–696. https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299221109449
Cachanosky, N., & Padilla, A. (2019). An Index of Latin American Populism. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3375424
Callaway, B., & Sant’Anna, P. H. C. (2021). Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods. Journal of Econometrics, 225(2), 200–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JECONOM.2020.12.001
Campos, L., & Casas, A. (2021). Rara Avis: Latin American populism in the 21st century. European Journal of Political Economy, 70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2021.102042
de Chaisemartin, C., & D’Haultfœuille, X. (2020). Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects. American Economic Review, 110(9), 2964–2996. https://doi.org/10.1257/AER.20181169
de la Torre, C., & Bernhard, M. (2024). Introduction: Still the Age of Populism? In M. Bernhard, A. Kreppel, & C. de la Torre (Eds.), Still the Age of Populism?: Re-Examining Theories and Concepts (pp. 1–14). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003453178-1
de Lara, F. B. (2018). Populist waves in Latin America : Continuities, twists, and ruptures. In Routledge Handbook of Global Populism (pp. 435–450). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315226446-34
Dobson Phillips, R., Dávid-Barrett, E., & Barrington, R. (2021). Defining corruption in context (Issue 12). https://www.sussex.ac.uk/webteam/gateway/file.php?name=csc-wp-series-dobson-et-al-defining-corruption-final.pdf&site=405
Dorn, D., Hanson, G., Majlesi, K., Kennedy School, H., Haggard, S., Helpman, E., Jacobson, G., McCarty, N., McLaren, J., Hajnal for comments, Z., Anderson, R., Enriquez, B., Malenica, A., Orlandi, J., Soltas, E., Wong, M., & Workman, A. (2020). Importing Political Polarization? The Electoral Consequences of Rising Trade Exposure. American Economic Review, 110(10), 3139–3183. https://doi.org/10.1257/AER.20170011
Dornbusch, Rudiger., & Edwards, S. (Eds.). (1991). The Macroeconomics of Populism in Latin America. University of Chicago Press. https://www.nber.org/books/dorn91-1
E. Warren, M. (2004). What Does Corruption Mean in a Democracy? American Journal of Political Science, 48(2), 328–343. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0092-5853.2004.00073.x
Edwards, S. (2019a). On Latin American Populism, and Its Echoes around the World. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 33(4), 76–99. https://doi.org/10.1257/JEP.33.4.76
Edwards, S. (2019b). On Latin American Populism, And Its Echoes Around the World. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w26333
Engler, S. (2020). “Fighting corruption” or “fighting the corrupt elite”? Politicizing corruption within and beyond the populist divide. Democratization, 27(4), 643–661. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2020.1713106
Funke, M., Schularick, M., & Trebesch, C. (2023). Populist Leaders and the Economy. American Economic Review, 113(12), 3249–3288. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20202045
Gehrke, M., & Yang, F. (2025). High-Profile Corruption Convictions, Government Reactions, and Public Approval: A Comparative Analysis Across Levels of Democracy. Governance, 38(3), e70019. https://doi.org/10.1111/GOVE.70019
Gnan, E., & Masciandaro, D. (2020). Populism, economic policies and central banking: An overview. In SUERF Policy Note (Issue 131).
Goodman-Bacon, A. (2021). Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing. Journal of Econometrics, 225(2), 254–277. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JECONOM.2021.03.014
Johnston, M. (2005). Syndromes of corruption: Wealth, power, and democracy. In Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power, and Democracy (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511490965
Kaltwasser, C. R. (2012). The ambivalence of populism: Threat and corrective for democracy. Democratization, 19(2), 184–208. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2011.572619
Kartal, M. (2024). The (unintended) consequences of ineffective corruption control on populism in Europe. West European Politics. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2024.2340373
Kaufmann, D., Kraay, A., & Mastruzzi, M. (2005). Governance Matters IV : Governance Indicators For 1996-2004. The World Bank. https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-3630
Kostadinova, T. (2023). Do populist governments reduce corruption? East European Politics, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2023.2185226
Kubbe, I., & Loli, M. (2020). Corruption and populism: The linkage. A Research Agenda for Studies of Corruption, 118–130. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789905007.00016
McMann, K. M., Seim, B., Teorell, J., & Lindberg, S. I. (2017). Democracy and Corruption: A Global Time-Series Analysis with V-Dem Data. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2941979
Mudde, C., & Kaltwasser, C. R. (2017). Populism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780190234874.001.0001
Mungiu-Pippidi, A. (2015). The quest for good governance: How societies develop control of corruption. In The Quest for Good Governance: How Societies Develop Control of Corruption. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316286937
Norris, P. (2020). Measuring populism worldwide. Party Politics, 26(6), 697–717. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068820927686
Pereira, L. B., & Dall’Acqua, F. (1991). Economic Populism Versus Keynes: Reinterpreting Budget Deficit in Latin America. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 14(1), 29–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/01603477.1991.11489875
Pozsgai-Alvarez, J. (2020). The abuse of entrusted power for private gain: meaning, nature and theoretical evolution. Crime, Law and Social Change, 74(4), 433–455. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10611-020-09903-4/METRICS
Roberts, K. M. (2024). Structural and Institutional Sources of Populist Resiliency. In M. Bernhard, A. Kreppel, & C. de la Torre (Eds.), Still the Age of Populism?: Re-Examining Theories and Concepts (pp. 32–47). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003453178-4
Rothstein, B. (2011). The Quality of Government: Corruption, Social Trust and Inequality in International Perspective. In European Journal of Social Security (Vol. 15, Issue 3). The University of Chicago Press.
Ruth, S. P. (2018). Populism and the Erosion of Horizontal Accountability in Latin America. Political Studies, 66(2), 356–375. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321717723511
Sachs, J. D. (1989). Social Conflict and Populist Policies in Latin America (Issue 2897).
V-Dem. (2024). Dataset Archive – V Dem. https://v-dem.net/data/dataset-archive/
Weyland, K. (2001). Clarifying a contested concept: Populism in the study of Latin American politics. Comparative Politics, 34(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.2307/422412
Weyland, K. (2024). The Paradox of Personalism in Latin American Populism: The Surprising Reliance on Technocracy and the Military. In M. Bernhard, A. Kreppel, & C. de la Torre (Eds.), Still the Age of Populism?: Re-Examining Theories and Concepts (pp. 155–174). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003453178-13
Online Annex.
Permanent Links
Files
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gyt5mlSS2_kOP-M4F4ORcBCGi1qSOQqe?usp=drive_link
Tables and data annexes.pdf
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x9rqst_wv51fLUooBNAoP2xvDvGekJJY/view?usp=drive_link
Descargas
Derechos de autor 2025 Reflexión Política

Esta obra está bajo una licencia internacional Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 4.0.
| Estadísticas de artículo | |
|---|---|
| Vistas de resúmenes | |
| Vistas de PDF | |
| Descargas de PDF | |
| Vistas de HTML | |
| Otras vistas | |




















