Mexico's "charismatic democracy" under Andrés Manuel López Obrador

In this article, we argue that Mexico under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) is a case of “charismatic democracy”, revolving around a particular personalized presidential style. What are the potential perils of “charismatic democracy” in terms of legitimacy of democratic rule, institutional pluralism, and regime mobilization? Drawing on the literature on democratic transitions, populism, and analysis of Mexican politics under AMLO, we assess our case along four dimensions: leadership, ideology, pluralism, and mobilization. Through this lens, we understand charismatic democracy as a disaggregation of the all-encompassing concept of populism. In Mexico, it has resulted in the formation of an ideology claiming grand historical change, reduction of institutional pluralism, and reliance on popular mobilization. This “charismatic turn” is a symptom of an ongoing crisis for Mexico’s rather young democracy, trapped between political institutions vulnerable to abuses of power and the accumulation of grievances of neoliberal rule. While it may still be too early to say that Mexico’s “charismatic democracy” is already in transition to (populist) authoritarian rule, we contend the greater focus on vertical accountability at the expense of horizontal accountability is hypertrophying the weight of the presidency in an already fragile democracy, thus unlocking a perilous path.