Abstract

ARTEAGA MORA, Carmen Geraldine. Love and Chavismo: Public Space and Propaganda in the 21st Century Socialism. Rev. mex. cienc. polít. soc [online]. 2019, vol.64, n.237, pp.211-243.  Epub Nov 07, 2019. ISSN 0185-1918.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fcpys.2448492xe.2019.237.61888.

This paper addresses the use of the topic “love”, as a propaganda resource of Chavism, oriented towards the creation of a legitimating meta-reality, based on a populistic political discourse. Through the analysis of symbolic representations of public discourse and iconography, it is argued that xxi Century Socialism shows totalitarian patterns. In addition, it unfolds an imaginary that aims to sacralize Hugo Chávez. The open question is whether the “love” topic and sacralization strategy will be enough to compensate for the ideological exhaustion of XXI Century Socialism in the post-Chávez era, and when Nicolás Maduro seems to go back in terms of political legitimacy.

Keywords : totalitarianism; populism; 21^st Century Socialism Messianic Leadership; Collective Imagination; Legitimacy; Political Sacralization.

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