Research

🎓Dissertation

"Elites' Radicalization Narratives: Discursive Analysis of Chilean right-wing political authorities after the Estallido Social"

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.

📚Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles:

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

Book Chapters:

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

🔬Works in Progress

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.

💰Funding and Grants

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

🌐Research Networks and Collaborations

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)

Professional Memberships:

• European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR)
• International Sociological Association (ISA)
• European Sociological Association (ESA)
• Latin American Studies Association (LASA)
• Critical Political Economy Research Network (RN06)

Find my complete research profile: Google Scholar | ORCID: 0009-0001-0471-7696

🎓Teaching

Current Courses:

"Beyond Borders: Exploring the Transnational Dynamics of the Far-Right through Mixed Methods"

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.

Teaching Experience:

Lectures

"Neoliberalism and democracy in Latin America". Lecture for students of the Master of Sociology, University of Manchester, UK.

Teaching Assistant (2013-2017)

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:

  • • "Political Development of Chile" (2013, 2014, 2015)
  • • "Parties, Elections and Democracy in Contemporary Chile" (2015, 2017)
  • • "Populisms in Latin America: Theory and Praxis" (2016, 2017)
  • • "Chilean Policy" (2017)
  • • "Political Ideologies" (2017)

Technical Skills and Software:

MAXQDA (Advanced)
Qualitative data analysis and coding
SPSS (Intermediate/Advanced)
Statistical analysis
R (Intermediate)
Data analysis and visualization
Excel (Advanced)
Data management and analysis

Student Supervision:

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.