This lecture will address specific problems in the Podemos political party leadership in order to conclude that Spanish populism has already reached an impasse from which there are only two ways out: accepting the impasse and freezing into a marginal political party with about 15% of the general vote; or cutting through it, which might once again put Podemos before the plausibility of relative electoral triumph at a national level. The latter will require heavy work, both political and theoretical. The current political climate, heavily marked by the secessionist attempt in Catalunya, has drastically diminished the possibilities for any kind of leftist government in Spain for the foreseeable future. It is important to note in this context Catalan nationalist populism, which has forced Podemos into looking at an uncomfortable mirror. The political import of all of this is significant for Spain given the deep ideological crisis of PSOE, the socialist party, and also ultimately of periphery nationalisms, which can no longer hide their thoroughly identitarian horizon. Indeed, one could say that Spain is today a country that will be led by a weak and one-eyed right through the very absence of believable and non-catastrophic alternatives.

Alberto Moreiras´ research interests include political thought and critical theory from perspectives that combine an interest in Continental philosophy (existential analytics, deconstruction), psychoanalysis, and Marxism. He is involved in research networks that interrogate contemporary Latin American democracies and the configuration of politico-theoretical responses to present social problems. He is working on concepts such as posthegemony and infrapolitics, whose potential significance has to do with the possibility of rethinking the critical traditions of modernity. He has an interest in themes such as Latin American indigeneity, narcotrafficking, Italian contemporary thought, present forms of Latin Americanist critique, life philosophies, and the return of Hegelianism, but also, and perhaps primarily, in the study of a number of trends in the intellectual tradition that link intellectual life to an intensity of free enjoyment as opposed to the obligations of work for social and academic reproduction. He has written extensively on canonic Latin American literature and culture. He has strong interests in fiction, and selective interests in poetry. His work is comparative and interdisciplinary in nature. While at times he focuses exclusively on Latin America, at other times his overriding interest is Spain, and he keeps an open mind in terms of the pursuit of more general European or Inter-American or Transatlantic issues. He is co-editor of three journals: "Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies," "Res publica," and "Política común."