Tobias Boos is a Doctor in Political Science from the University of Vienna, where he is a professor in the area of ​​International Politics. His lines of research are middle class and populism in Latin America, theories of the state, and political economy. His focus is directed to the relationship between social structure and political identities in Latin America. In the past, he carried out research stays financed by the Austrian Ministry of Science, in Buenos Aires (UBA; CIS / IDES), Quito (Flacso), London (UCL-Institut of the Americas), and Madrid (Completense), among others.

 

Publications

Articles / Chapters (selection)

2019. "State Transformation in Latin America: Theorizing and Periodizing Post-Colonial Entanglements". En: Center for InterAmerican Studies (coord.): Inter-American Key Topics Series Rethinking the Americas. Volume Political Economy and Governance. Farnham with Brand, Ulrich (próximamente).

2018. "Neuer Autoritarismus, Populismus, Faschismus". En: Ilker Ataç, Albert Kraler, Wolfram Schaffer, Aram Ziai (coords.): Politik und Peripherie. Eine politikwissenschaftliche Einführung. Wien: Mandelbaum, 184-204 with Wolfram Schaffar.

2018. "Ein Hut, zu viel Köpfe. Zu Geschichte und Theorie des Populismusbegriffs". En: PROKLA 48 (1). 9-26.

2018. "Linkspopulismus: Oxymoron oder Alternative? Ein Blick über den politiktheoretischen Tellerrand. Fallbeispiel: Argentinien". En: Portal für Politikwissenschaft

2017. "Pact of consumption – Kirchnerism and the Argentinian Middle Class" En: Austrian Journal of Development (JEP) 33 (3). 37-62.

2017. Tobias Boos y Gregor Seidl: "Rise of the Latin American Middle Class – or (Statistical) Storm in a Teapot?". En: Austrian Journal of Development (JEP). 33 (3). 4-15.

2017. Tobias Boos, Ulrich Brand y Alina Brad: "Degrowth and Post-Extractivism: Two debates with suggestions for the inclusive development framework". En: COCUST – Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (24). 36-41.

2017. "Mit Poulantzas Arbeiten". En: Tobias Boos, Hanna Lichtenberger y Armin Puller (coords.): Mit Poulantzas Arbeiten…um aktuelle Macht- und Herrschaftsverhältnisse zu verstehen. Hamburg: VSA.

2016. Tobias Boos, Benjamin Opratko y Etienne Schneider: "Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital". En: Austrian Journal of Development (JEP) 32  (1/16). 

2016. Tobias Boos y Benjamin Opratko: "Die populistische Herausforderung: Pure Vernunft darf niemals siegen". En: Zeitschrift für sozialistische Politik und Wirtschaft (215). 30-37.

2016. Tobias Boos y Etienne Schneider: "Lateinamerikanisiert Europa!? Einige vorläufige Schlussfolgerungen zur Frage eines linken Populismus in Europa" En: Ulrich Brand (coord.): Lateinamerikas Linke. Ende des progressiven Zyklus?. Hamburg: VSA. 96-112. 

 

Project as a Fellow of CALAS

Between 2003 and 2018, both Bolivia and Argentina have been the scenes of intense political and intellectual debates about their so-called middle classes, offering fertile ground for a comparative study. In the Bolivian case, the MAS government faces a political crisis in the face of the 2019 elections, which casts doubt on its continuity after 14 years in power. President Evo Morales took a surprising discursive turn in 2018, affirming his need to "listen" and "charm again" the middle class, marking a break with his traditional stance of antagonizing it, and leaving his recurring references to it in the past as a “middle class” (Villanueva 2018). In the Argentine case, the analysis of social stratification and levels of consumption accounts for similar processes. This research project aims to understand the motives and strategies used by the elites (governmental and institutional) in Argentina and Bolivia, to define, subdivide, co-opt, and even antagonize the middle class. It will be of particular interest to understand the interaction between these diverse representations and the subjective identities onto which they are projected. The critical approach also seeks to investigate the extent to which discursive strategies make other inequalities invisible outside of this expansive category, diverting attention from subordinate and dominant subjects, through narratives that are rarely sensitive to other identity intersections.