Ep. 85 - Redistributive Populism vs Property Rights: Comparing Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Uruguay & Botswana

In South Africa, and the Western world in general, the liberal democratic paradigm is progressively coming under scrutiny. Many of these challenges originated in a new wave of populism, of both the left and right-wing variety, gaining momentum in the West and the global South. I therefore did my Master’s thesis on the topic of redistributive populism, a strand of left-wing populism, as well as private property rights. In this discussion I provide a brief overview of my findings.

My thesis addressed the following question: Is redistributive populism a sustainable long-term policy path for economic growth, poverty and inequality reduction, and for democratic consolidation, or is protecting and enforcing property rights a better alternative to achieve these aims? In order to find an answer, I compared four case studies: Venezuela and Zimbabwe, as examples of redistributive populist regimes under which property rights were substantially eroded; and Uruguay and Botswana, as examples where property rights were protected and enforced.