Lecture
Book Presentation ‘The Far Right in Latin America’
- Date
- Thursday 3 September 2026
- Time
- Address
- T.B.A.
Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser will present the edited volume The Far Right in Latin America (Cambridge University Press, 2026). The book provides a comparative analysis of far-right politics across Latin America, examining its ideological foundations, organisational development, and electoral success, as well as its implications for democracy in the region.
About the book
Academic and public debates on the far right have focused predominantly on Europe and the United States, often overlooking developments in other world regions. To help address this imbalance, this book provides systematic evidence on the ideas and discourses advanced by far-right actors across Latin America, thereby contributing to broader debates about the drivers of far-right mobilization and its implications for democracy. Drawing on multiple case studies from across the region, the volume argues that the rise of the far right in Latin America constitutes a reactionary response to the partial success of democratic regimes in incorporating historically marginalized groups. Although profound inequalities persist, Latin American democracies have gradually weakened the dominance of traditional elites over majority–minority relations, creating fertile ground for a backlash against ongoing political, social, and cultural transformations.
About the speaker
Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser is Professor at the Institute of Political Science at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Director of the Laboratory for the Study of the Far Right (ultra-lab). He holds a PhD from Humboldt University of Berlin and completed postdoctoral research at Nuffield College (University of Oxford) as well as at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB). In recent years, he has been a visiting professor at the Free University of Berlin, the Scuola Normale Superiore, Uppsala University, and Sciences Po. His research focuses on comparative politics, with particular emphasis on how extremist forces affect the functioning of democracy.
Join the event
This book lecture is open to everyone from Leiden University. There's no need to register.
