Crisis and Control - The Rhetoric of President Bukele's War on Gangs : A Qualitative Study Exploring El Salvador's President's Use of Populist Rhetoric to Legitimize Authoritarian Governance

Sammanfattning

This thesis explores President Nayib Bukele’s discourse on El Salvador’s “war on gangs” through the lens of populist rhetoric, analyzing the ways in which Bukele may construct a narrative that legitimizes rigorous policies. Building on two intersecting concepts, populism and authoritarianism, this theoretical framework is applied to facilitate a deeper understanding of when these two merge and challenge democratic norms. Through a focused case study, using a mixed-method approach of qualitative content analysis and discourse analysis, this study examines official speeches made by President Bukele to uncover the way populist rhetoric might be reflected in his communication. The findings reveal that in order to justify authoritarian practices, Bukele indeed employs language and rhetorical techniques typical of populism. Bukele effectively narrates “the war on gangs” building on common populist attributes such as the “us vs them” dichotomy, anti-establishment sentiments, crisis narratives and nationalism. By portraying the campaign against gang violence as both urgent and necessary, Bukele’s rhetoric seeks to mobilize public sentiment, thereby facilitating the legitimization of more authoritarian policies. This research contributes to the understanding of the implications of populist leadership for democratic governance, illustrating how populism might support authoritarian practices under the pretext of national security and development.