Leftist Anti-Debt Populism in the Global South: Comparing the Initial Narratives of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Ousmane Sonko

Leftist populism is conventionally studied as a manifestation of anti-austerity thought and action. Yet leftist populists do not necessarily focus on attacking ruling elites for implementing spending cuts and for the latter’s social consequences. Rather, there also exists an understudied branch of leftist populism that combines anti-elitism with a strong condemnation of sovereign debt accumulation. The paper studies this branch based on a “most-different” case study of Mexico’s former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and Senegal’s current prime minister Ousmane Sonko. The two leftist politicians rose to power in starkly different settings. At the same time, both anti-neoliberal leaders initially cultivated populist narratives branding established elites as fiscally reckless. The paper comparatively extracts these narratives from two books – "2018 la Salida: Decadencia y Renacimiento de Mexico" and "Solutions: Pour un Sénégal nouveau" – wherein AMLO and Sonko delineate their respective populist ideological frameworks prior to coming to power. The paper demonstrates that the elaboration of leftist anti-debt populism is inextricably linked with the debt crisis that hit the Global South in the 1980s. Specifically, the paper shows how past histories of financial subordination create incentives for leftist populists to push for fiscal prudence. The paper thereby allows for a better understanding of ideological diversity within leftist populism. Furthermore, it contributes to existing research investigating how balance-of-payments-constrains shape leftist politics in the Global South.