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UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Protest or Politics? Varieties of Teacher Representation in Latin America Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4rc371rp Author Chambers-Ju, Christopher Publication Date 2017 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Protest or Politics? Varieties of Teacher Representation in Latin America By Christopher Chambers-Ju A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Jonah Levy, Co-Chair Professor Ruth Berins Collier, Co-Chair Professor David Collier Professor Laura Stoker Professor Kim Voss Summer 2017 Abstract Protest or Politics? Varieties of Teacher Representation in Latin America by Christopher Chambers-Ju Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science University of California, Berkeley Professor Jonah Levy, Co-Chair Professor Ruth Berins Collier, Co-Chair Scholars of Latin American politics have made contrasting predictions about the prospects for contemporary group-based interest representation. Some argue that democratization creates an opportunity for societal groups to intensify their participation in politics. The expansion of political rights, alongside free and fair elections, creates space for all major groups to take part in politics, crucially those excluded under authoritarian rule. Other scholars, by contrast, maintain that neoliberal economic reforms fragment and demobilize major groups. Changes in the economic model, they suggest, have severe consequences for labor organizations, which now have a limited political repertoire. My research challenges both of these claims, showing how the consequences of democracy and neoliberalism, rather than being uniform, have been uneven. I focus on the diverse forms of political participation by an influential societal group: public school teachers. Over the past thirty years, teachers’ unions have become the largest and most dynamic sector of labor in many countries throughout the region, taking leadership positions in national union centrals. Teachers have developed contrasting types of mobilization: (1) Movementism (movimientismo in Spanish), based on contentious actions and protests; (2) Leftism, based on organic ties to left parties and ongoing electoral mobilization; and (3) Instrumentalism, based on flexible alliances with various parties, which negotiate for the electoral support of teachers. These three types of mobilization map, respectively, onto the cases of Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico. These contrasting mobilizational strategies of teachers can be traced to two differences: each union’s ties with its members—centralized versus fragmented; and relations among its leaders—cohesive versus divided. Centralization positions unions to participate in electoral politics, because with dense ties to rank and file workers the leadership can build a powerful voting bloc. By contrast, with fragmented relations to members, unions are unable to discipline grassroots activists or mobilize voters, and they fall back on strikes and protests. Second, leadership cohesion positions unions to take strategic actions, such as moving away from long-standing allegiance to a single party and developing instrumental alliances with multiple parties. Unions with divided 1 leaderships, by contrast, are more deeply rooted in longstanding partisan alliances. For them, efforts to develop instrumental alliances exacerbate factional rivalries, and tend to fail. While the analysis focuses primarily on the evolving patterns of organization and leadership over the past 30 years, the study also steps back to consider the origins of these patterns, which were produced jointly by the initial legacy of union founding and the political opportunities that were created by democratic openings. Finally, the politics of teachers’ unions is obviously of enormous importance for education policy and for national strategies to increase human capital and enhance social welfare. The study addresses these concerns by showing that alternative mobilizational strategies have important implications for education policy and policymaking. This study draws on extensive fieldwork and original data collection in Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico. It also utilizes secondary literature and archival documents to analyze how teachers’ unions were founded and how they evolved in the years leading up to democratic openings. 2 For Angela i Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii Chapter 1: The New Politics of Teachers in Latin America ........................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Early Development Trajectories ................................................................................. 20 Chapter 3: Instrumentalism in Mexico ......................................................................................... 42 Chapter 4: Movementism in Argentina......................................................................................... 68 Chapter 5: Leftism in Colombia ................................................................................................... 93 Chapter 6: Political Incorporation, Education Policymaking, and Teachers .............................. 117 References ................................................................................................................................... 131 ii Acknowledgements Coming to Berkeley connected me to an incredible community of scholars, mentors, colleagues, and friends. Ruth Berins Collier taught me how to think about politics at the macro-level, in terms of democracy, class struggle, and political representation. Her intellectual leadership initially prompted me to study teachers and how they represented their interests. I am indebted to her for the many hours she spent helping me to untangle the core analytic pieces of my research. Jonah Levy played a complementary leadership role. He took on the labor-intensive task of helping me articulate my ideas in writing, while encouraging me to locate my research in a broad, comparative framework. Jonah read countless drafts and consistently provided valuable comments that significantly improved the overall project. I also had the privilege of working closely with David Collier. He taught me how to organize ideas, and how careful attention to word choice and syntax brings writing to life, and gives it impact. Working with David on projects about comparative historical analysis, process tracing, and critical junctures contributed significantly to my development as a scholar. Laura Stoker was an invaluable source of guidance and support, playing the role of methodologist, pragmatist, and editor. Over lunches at the Musical Offering Café, Laura encouraged me to position my research carefully within the discipline of political science. Kim Voss helped me to think about labor from a sociological perspective, and encouraged me to not lose sight of the day-to-day struggles of ordinary teachers. I also benefited from a group of informal advisers and mentors who greatly enriched this project. Kent Eaton acted as if he were a sixth committee member. Always offering encouragement, he read countless drafts and helped me to sequence the presentation of my research. Leonardo Arriola, Steve Vogel, Chris Ansell, and Alison Post provided valuable feedback, generously setting aside time to help me think through and resolve analytic challenges. Leah Carroll shared her experience living and conducting research in Colombia, and dug up her fascinating article on the teachers’ union in Antioquia from 1986. In addition, Terry Moe, Amita Chudgar, Maria Victoria Murillo, James McGuire, Ben Ross Schneider, and John Meyer all provided critical perspectives on teachers and education politics, and pushed me to be more comparative. Javier Corrales, my undergraduate adviser, initially introduced me to the study of Latin American politics and education. I am lucky that he has been both a friend and a consistent source of support. Finally, the Inter-American Dialogue’s education program, especially Jeff Puryear and Tamara Ortega Goodspeed, helped launched my career as a policy analyst. This research has relied heavily on the work of a group of scholars in Latin America who have conducted serious social science research on teachers’ unions. These scholars include, among others, Aurora Loyo, Julian Gindin, Carlos Ornelas, Alberto Arnaut, Arturo Tapia, Roxana Perazza, Karla Fernandez, Adriana Migliavacca, Mercedes Chiappe, Gabriel Nardacchione, Aldo Munoz, and Henry Bocanegra. My research would not have been possible without the help of these scholars. In addition, I benefited greatly from union leaders and teachers who generously invited me into their classrooms, let me sit in on meetings, and shared personal experiences. They gave me a window into what teachers actually do and how they interact with their unions. iii My research was supported by the Institute for International Studies at UC Berkeley, which allowed me to conduct eighteen months of fieldwork in Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico. The Spencer Foundation supported a year