LAUSR

Although the study of populism has traditionally been the domain of Latin Americanists, research here has become increasingly comparative. One of the most important payoffs of this comparative work is conceptual. Rather than defining populism in structuralist, economic, or political-strategic terms, a growing number of scholars around the world are using an ideational conceptualization that draws heavily from earlier discursive theories. By employing the ideational approach, scholars have been able to provide empirical measures of populist discourse. In this article we explain and show the advantages of this ideational approach to a Latin American audience by presenting a new historical dataset measuring the discourse of Argentine, Chilean, and Peruvian presidents across the twentieth century. Our main intent is to clarify the ideational approach as well as to enliven the conceptual debate. While we are critical of alternative definitions, we acknowledge and reassess their theoretical insights. Resumen Aun cuando el estudio del populismo ha sido tradicionalmente un campo de los latinoamericanistas, la investigacion al respecto se ha vuelto cada vez mas comparativa. Uno de los beneficios mas importantes de los trabajos comparados es conceptual. En vez de definir al populismo en terminos estructurales, economicos o politico-estrategicos, un creciente numero de academicos alrededor del mundo utilizan una conceptualizacion ideacional vinculada con previas teorias discursivas. Mediante el uso del enfoque ideacional academicos han sido capaces de proveer mediciones empiricas de discurso populista. En este articulo explicamos y mostramos las ventajas del enfoque ideacional mediante la discusion de una nueva base de datos que mide el discurso de los presidentes de Argentina, Chile y Peru durante el siglo veinte. Nuestra principal intension es clarificar el enfoque ideacional y a su vez avivar el debate conceptual. Si bien es cierto que somos criticos de definiciones alternativas, reconocemos y reconsideramos sus aportes teoricos.