Authoritarian Populism and Patriarchal Logics: Nicaragua’s Engendered Politics

Abstract

This article examines contemporary Nicaraguan politics to understand how gender conservatism structures the populist project of Ortega–Murillos (OrMu), the presidential couple. Through feminist discourse analysis of state texts, I examine the cultural strategies the regime uses to represent itself. I put this narrative into conversation with feminist critiques to outline how antifeminism is a central political strategy of the OrMu regime. By doing so, this article aims to demonstrate how the Nicaraguan case can advance our typologies of contemporary authoritarianisms and the social relations these political projects constitute.