Politics in Retreat: Redrawing Our Political Maps

Abstract

In Latin America, as in other regions, a sort of antipolitics is gaining influence and even political power (Collor, Fujimori, Menem) which, without openly questioning democracy, is profoundly altering its exercise. These new, antipolitical phenomena represent more than simple ‘deviant cases’; they form part of a more general process of redefinition and restructuring. We are witnessing not only political changes, but a change in politics itself.

This chapter was translated by Andreas Schedler with the aid of Jane Schröder and Marcela Rios. An initial draft was published in Spanish under the title ‘Los nuevos perfiles de la politica’, Nueva Sociedad vol. 130 (March–April 1994).