ABSTRACT
Populism is a topic of relevance in Latin American social analysis, and, during the 1970s, it was a useful theoretical tool in the understanding of a variety of contexts and political processes that were taking place in the region in the twentieth century. This essay focuses on contemporary Ecuadorian reality. The topic is approached from the standpoint of different cultural manifestations which demonstrate the presence and effectiveness of colonial hegemonies, expressed in clientelisms and idealisations of certain political leaders which, in turn, reveal both cultural and historical complexities that, although a means of subordinating and normalising the people, also expose resistances that enable them to directly negotiate and obtain benefits in everyday life, an issue that Ernesto Laclau (2006) addressed in his text “On populist reason”. In response to such a concern, we suggest the rescuing of postcolonial theoretical standpoints. However, the basic argument of this essay arises from the hypothesis that it is essential to conceive intercultural projects, which entail not only decolonized consciences, but also the begetting of new civilizational pacts. In such a context, political culture is supported by ethical concerns and parameters, as well as by the belief that it is necessary to share social and political power. From this perspective, interculturality goes beyond postcolonial theories, socialist approaches and, even, its own indigenist stances. To start with, this essay reflects on populism as a colonial manifestation of political endeavour. Subsequently, it explores populist behaviours from the standpoint of postcolonial analysis. Finally, it proposes interculturality as a means of critique of postcolonial deficiencies and inadequacies, as well as of the indigenist shortages of certain theoretical trends in contemporary Ecuador.
