• Bukele transformed public security into a model of performance-based legitimacy, making visible policy delivery the foundation of his political support.
• By combining security reforms with a personalised communication strategy, his administration has maintained domestic support despite sustained international criticism.
• Bukele’s governing model is increasingly influencing political leaders across Latin America, shifting attention from procedure to performance.

Why is Bukele BLAZING?

Answer: Bukele is BLAZING because he transformed security policy into a durable source of political legitimacy.

Nayib Bukele’s entry into office on June 1, 2019 marked the beginning of a transformation for El Salvador. At the time, El Salvador was regarded as one of the most violent countries in the world. Decades of gang dominance by organisations such as Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 had left large parts of the country outside effective state control, while successive governments struggled to reduce homicide rates, extortion and organised crime.

Bukele argued that restoring security in gang-controlled areas and demonstrating that the state could once again use public resources effectively would become the foundation for rebuilding the country. He presented public safety as a statewide objective to recover the economy, increase investment and tourism, and strengthen governance capacity.

Domestically and internationally, the centrepiece of Bukele’s agenda has been the Territorial Control Plan, launched in 2019, followed by the State of Exception in 2022. Since their implementation, El Salvador has arrested more than 92,000 suspected gang members, reduced homicides by over 95%, and reclaimed territory previously controlled by criminal organisations. Delivering on these security promises became the first step towards his broader project of performance-based legitimacy: the capacity to translate visible policy delivery into durable political support, reflected in his 67% positive image rating. The implementation of the Salvadoran president’s security agenda laid the foundation for a broader model of performance-based legitimacy, enabling him to remain BLAZING despite continued concerns surrounding democratic backsliding and institutional concentration.

What is changing Bukele’s heat level?

Answer: Bukele remains BLAZING because his security and development policies continue to reinforce his domestic political support.

Rather than relying solely on the success of his security agenda, Bukele has built a hybrid governing model that links every visible improvement in El Salvador to his personal leadership. Scholars argue that his popularity stems not only from what his government has delivered, but from how those achievements have been systematically communicated to the public.

Bukele has strategically communicated several of his completed projects, one of the most recent being the inauguration of Hospital Nacional Rosales in San Salvador, completed with an investment of $61.2 million. The Salvadoran leader and his administration have positioned this facility as the crown jewel of El Salvador’s public health system, emphasising that “public funds reach when no one steals“. This project demonstrates to constituents that the government, under Bukele’s leadership, can function effectively. In doing so, Bukele has shifted the basis upon which many Salvadorans evaluate political leadership, encouraging citizens to judge governments according to tangible outcomes rather than institutional procedure.

This narrative has gained significant traction among Salvadorans, reducing the political impact of sustained domestic and international criticism. International organisations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the United Nations have repeatedly criticised prolonged emergency powers, arbitrary detentions and democratic backsliding. Yet these criticisms have generated limited political costs domestically.

The Salvadoran leader won re-election with more than 80% of the vote, while his party, Nuevas Ideas, secured a legislative supermajority despite sustained international scrutiny. He has now registered for a third term in 2027, reportedly facing no major adversaries. Human Rights Watch documents continued democratic backsliding under Bukele while also acknowledging the dramatic reduction in gang violence that has accompanied his security policies. Public opinion surveys suggest many Salvadorans continue to prioritise these visible improvements over institutional concerns, helping explain Bukele’s exceptionally high approval ratings despite sustained international criticism. This dynamic illustrates how Bukele’s model of performance-based legitimacy has, thus far, translated international criticism into relatively few domestic political costs.

What is driving Bukele?

Answer: Bukele seeks to rebuild state authority by making effective governance the principal source of political legitimacy.

Bukele’s security agenda has never been an end in itself. Instead, it has become the foundation of a broader political project aimed at demonstrating that the state would once again function effectively after decades of institutional failure. From Bukele’s perspective, success is measured not only by lower homicide rates, but by restoring public confidence in government, repositioning El Salvador as an attractive destination for investment and tourism, and establishing a model of governance capable of sustaining overwhelming public support. Security therefore serves as the entry point to a broader effort to redefine how governments earn public support. 

The legitimacy generated by these achievements has simultaneously reinforced the president’s own political position. Consistently high approval ratings, electoral dominance, and legislative control have enabled his administration to continue expanding this governing model while facing relatively limited domestic resistance. Although scholars remain divided over whether Bukele’s model of performance-based legitimacy can provide a durable foundation for long-term governance without further weakening democratic institutions, the political incentives behind it are clear. 

Every visible improvement reinforces Bukele’s claim that governments should ultimately be judged by what they deliver rather than through traditional procedural legitimacy rooted in democratic institutions, elections, and the rule of law. Viewed collectively, Bukele’s policies suggest an effort to create a self-reinforcing model of governance in which tangible results generate legitimacy, legitimacy generates political capital, and political capital enables the continued implementation of his governing agenda.

What does this mean for you?

Answer: Bukele’s model is reshaping how political leaders across Latin America justify and consolidate executive power.

Bukele’s model of performance-based legitimacy is increasingly influencing political debates beyond El Salvador. Across Latin America, leaders confronting high crime, weak institutions, and declining public trust have looked to his example. These leaders have increasingly framed visible policy delivery as the principal measure of effective government. In countries such as Argentina, Ecuador, and Colombia, political leaders have adopted tougher security rhetoric increasingly justifying executive action by its perceived effectiveness rather than by procedural legitimacy.

The president’s governing model has reinforced a regional preference for policies that produce rapid, visible outcomes, particularly in countries confronting persistent insecurity and declining trust in public institutions. More broadly, Bukele has demonstrated that tangible policy delivery can become an independent source of political legitimacy, even in the face of sustained criticism over democratic backsliding. His presidency has therefore elevated performance-based legitimacy from a domestic governing strategy to an increasingly influential model of governance in Latin America. In doing so, it has reshaped how governments seek to justify and consolidate their authority.