PhD Thesis, Institute of Sociology and Latin America Institute, Freie Universität Berlin
Supervisors: Prof. Renata C. Motta and Prof. Sergio Costa
Defense planned for: December 2025
This dissertation investigates how Chilean far-right political elites construct and deploy radicalization narratives following the 2019 social uprising, employing in-depth interviews, participant observation, and discourse analysis to understand the mechanisms through which political actors adapt their strategies in response to social crises.
Santander, L. (2024). "El neoliberalismo autoritario en la rearticulación discursiva de la derecha post Estallido Social." Propuestas Críticas en Trabajo Social, 4(8). https://doi.org/10.5354/2735-6620.2024.74692
Santander, L. (2024). "Book Review: Flexible Authoritarianism: Cultivating Ambition and Loyalty in Russia by Anna Schwenck." Capital & Class, 48(3), 491–493. https://doi.org/10.1177/03098168241269095a
Foit, M., Hodgson-Casson, A., Miquelasi, A., Santander, L., & Schirmer, R. (2024). "Guaranteeing Green: Urban Sustainability, Citizen Participation and Green Spaces in Cities." In Cowley, R., Costa, S., & Kon, F. (Eds.), Rethinking Sustainability in Urban Areas: São Paulo, London, Berlin. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4780408
Santander, L. & Lotze, N. (forthcoming). "Positionalities of elitist complicity: building rapport and reducing asymmetries in interviewing the neoliberal right in Chile, Germany, and the UK." European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology.
Koch, T. & Santander, L. (forthcoming). "The Church, the Secret Society, and the Political Struggle: Disaffiliations in Contemporary Catholicism." In Gender and Religious Exit (Routledge).
Santander, L. (forthcoming). "Authoritarian neoliberalism in the discursive rearticulation of the Chilean right post-Estallido." Special Issue: Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy 80 years later.
DAAD/BECAS Chile Doctoral Fellowship (2021-2025): €80,000
Berlin University Alliance X-Student Research Group (2025): €2,300
Ernst-Reuter-Gesellschaft Travel Grants (2023-2024): €1,142
Lateinamerika-Institut Travel Support (2023): €2,500
Global Research Academy Project (2022-2023): €2,000 + accommodation
Contemporary Research on Far-Right Politics Berlin (Co-founder, 2023-2025)
Global Research Academy - Sustainable Cities project (2022-2024)
The Right Against Rights Network (Organizer, 2024-2025)
Find my complete research profile: Google Scholar | ORCID: 0009-0001-0471-7696
Summer Semester 2025, Faculty of Sociology, Freie Universität Berlin
This seminar provides students with a comprehensive examination of the global rise of far-right movements, employing qualitative mixed methods to explore radicalization processes, narrative construction, and mobilization strategies. Students engage with comparative case studies from Latin America and Europe, developing skills in fieldwork methodology, ethical considerations in sensitive research environments, and qualitative data analysis using MAXQDA software.
"Neoliberalism and democracy in Latin America". Lecture for students of the Master of Sociology, University of Manchester, UK.
Institute of Political Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Supported undergraduate courses in political science, providing instruction in research methods, political theory, and comparative government. Responsibilities included leading seminars, grading assignments, and mentoring student research projects in the following courses:
I have experience mentoring students in qualitative research design, fieldwork preparation, and thesis writing. My approach combines structured guidance with independence, helping students develop their own research questions while building methodological competence and analytical skills.