The idea of civil society in the theory–practice of Latin American new social movements

2010 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Latin American ◽  
New Social Movements

Transnational Social Movements in Latin America

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa von Bülow
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Transnational Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
Diffusion Paths

Latin American transnational social movements (TSMs) are key actors in debates about the future of global governance. Since the 1990s, they have played an important role in creating new organizational fora to bring together civil society actors from around the globe. In spite of this relevance, the literature on social movements from the region focuses primarily—and often exclusively—on the domestic arena. Nevertheless, there is an increasingly influential body of scholarship from the region, which has contributed to relevant theoretical debates on how actors overcome collective action problems in constructing transnational social movements and how they articulate mobilization efforts at the local, national and international scales. The use of new digital technologies has further blurred the distinction among scales of activism. It has become harder to tell where interpretative frames originate, to trace diffusion paths across national borders, and to determine the boundaries of movements. At the same time, there are important gaps in the literature, chief among them the study of right-wing transnational networks.

Social Movements and Progressive Governments: Building a New Relationship in Latin America

2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Marta Harnecker
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Major Element ◽  
Latin American Politics ◽  
New Social Movements ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
Social Organizations

The major element missing from Latin American politics in recent decades has been, with rare exceptions, the traditional workers' movement, beaten down by flexibilization, subcontracting, and other neoliberal measures.&hellip; The fall of the Berlin Wall and the defeat of Soviet socialism left the parties and social organizations of the left inspired by that model seriously weakened. At the same time, trade unions were hit hard by the weakening of the working class, part of the larger social fragmentation produced by neoliberalism. In that context, it was new social movements, and not the traditional parties and social organizations of the left, that rose to the forefront of the struggle against neoliberalism, in forms that varied widely from one country to another.&hellip; The situation in the 1980s and '90s in Latin America was comparable in some respects to the experience of pre-revolutionary Russia in the early twentieth century.&hellip; [M]any of the region's peoples said "enough" and started mobilizing, first in defensive resistance, then passing to the offensive. As a result, presidential candidates of the left or center-left began to triumph, only to face the following alternative: either embrace the neoliberal model, or advance an alternative project motivated by a logic of solidarity and human development.&hellip; [Consequently,] a major debate has emerged over the role that new social movements should adopt in relation to the progressive governments that have inspired hope in many Latin American nations.<p class="mrlink"><p class="mrpurchaselink"><a href="http://monthlyreview.org/index/volume-67-number-8" title="Vol. 67, No. 8: January 2016" target="_self">Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the <em>Monthly Review</em> website.</a></p>

Indigenous Political Representation in Latin America

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Rice
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Indigenous Movements

Indigenous peoples have become important social and political actors in contemporary Latin America. The politicization of ethnic identities in the region has divided analysts into those who view it as a threat to democratic stability versus those who welcome it as an opportunity to improve the quality of democracy. Throughout much of Latin America’s history, Indigenous peoples’ demands have been oppressed, ignored, and silenced. Latin American states did not just exclude Indigenous peoples’ interests; they were built in opposition to or even against them. The shift to democracy in the 1980s presented Indigenous groups with a dilemma: to participate in elections and submit themselves to the rules of a largely alien political system that had long served as an instrument of their domination or seek a measure of representation through social movements while putting pressure on the political system from the outside. In a handful of countries, most notably Bolivia and Ecuador, Indigenous movements have successfully overcome this tension by forming their own political parties and contesting elections on their own terms. The emergence of Indigenous peoples’ movements and parties has opened up new spaces for collective action and transformed the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the state. Indigenous movements have reinvigorated Latin America’s democracies. The political exclusion of Indigenous peoples, especially in countries with substantial Indigenous populations, has undoubtedly contributed to the weakness of party systems and the lack of accountability, representation, and responsiveness of democracies in the region. In Bolivia, the election of the country’s first Indigenous president, Evo Morales (2006–present) of the Movement toward Socialism (MAS) party, has resulted in new forms of political participation that are, at least in part, inspired by Indigenous traditions. A principal consequence of the broadening of the democratic process is that Indigenous activists are no longer forced to choose between party politics and social movements. Instead, participatory mechanisms allow civil society actors and their organizations to increasingly become a part of the state. New forms of civil society participation such as Indigenous self-rule broaden and deepen democracy by making it more inclusive and government more responsive and representative. Indigenous political representation is democratizing democracy in the region by pushing the limits of representative democracy in some of the most challenging socio-economic and institutional environments.

Democratisation and New Social Movements

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Žiga Vodovnik
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Sufficient Condition ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
New Social Movements ◽  
Democratic Transformation ◽  
Political Economic

AbstractThe article offers a reflection on the processes of democratisation in Slovenia, arguing that the new social movements were a key player in initiating and directing democratic transformation, but later came to be gradually marginalised with the consolidation of the “new” or “bourgeois” civil society. Furthermore, a new chronotope of analysis shows that the role of social movements was a necessary but not a sufficient condition for political, economic and social changes, since during the second phase of the democratisation a political detachment is already underway. The key point of contestation and discordance can be identified in their completely opposite understanding of democracy and the process of democratisation itself.

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