Comparison of Hugo Chavez and Donald Trump within the framework of populism. Journal of Law and Politics

The purpose of this study is to redefine populism, which exists in many countries that make up the international community and is understood as a political phenomenon, and to analyze the possible similarities between former President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frias of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (1998-2013) and Former President Donald John Trump of the United States (2017–2021). In this context, the study identifies two areas of focus: the theoretical approaches to populism and the effects of populism on the representative democracy of a nation-state. Considering the theoretical approaches and interpretive analyses of populism, it can be concluded that both former presidents, Hugo Chávez and Donald J. Trump, can be regarded as populist leaders from political-strategic and ideal-discursive perspectives. The theoretical approaches to populism described in this article allow for the construction of a theoretical framework aimed at understanding the populist phenomenon and the panorama of populist leaders.