The Analysis of the Plan Nacional De Desarrollo and the Constitución 2008
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University of Bergen Gender and Development Psychology Faculty Development from the state in Ecuador: the analysis of the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo and the Constitución 2008 Alejandra Gando A. Bergen, 2009 - 1 - – To the South – Aquí abajo, abajo el hambre disponible recurre al fruto amargo de lo que otros deciden mientras el tiempo pasa y pasan los desfiles y se hacen otras cosas que el Norte no prohíbe. Con su esperanza dura el Sur también existe. Con sus predicadores sus gases que envenenan su escuela de Chicago sus dueños de la tierra con sus trapos de lujo y su pobre osamenta sus defensas gastadas sus gastos de defensa con su gesta invasora el Norte es el que ordena. Pero aquí abajo, abajo cada uno en su escondite hay hombres y mujeres que saben a qué asirse aprovechando el sol y también los eclipses apartando lo inútil y usando lo que sirve. Con su fe veterana el Sur también existe. El Sur también existe Mario Benedetti - 2 - ABSTRACT Rafael Correa took office as president of Ecuador in January 2007; his presidency has been linked to the “rebirth” of the left in Latin America. He presented himself as an outsider an alternative to the traditional way of doing politics in the country. This study pretends to make sense of what I consider as basic notions presented in two key documents elaborated by the government; the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 2007 2010 and the Constitución 2008, both part of the revolución ciudadana . By reflecting on notions of development, rights vs. Vulnerability and citizenship, I attempt to construct a framework to understand not only both documents but the project of the government. This is a discussion on mainly issues of equality and justice. I propose a way of seen these documents through a series of lenses; to make reference to the governmental initiatives of development in Ecuador. On April 26 Correa won the latest electoral elections in the country allowing him to stay as president one more term, the majority of Ecuadorians have decided to back up the project of the government, thus I consider that an effort of making sense of the project. - 3 - Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ - 3 - INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... - 6 - Overview .................................................................................................................. - 8 - CHAPTER I, Methodology ..................................................................................... - 10 - Information and Analysis ........................................................................................ - 11 - Sources of information ........................................................................................... - 14 - Limitations and Stand Point ................................................................................... - 14 - CHAPTER II, Background .................................................................................... - 15 - 10 years of instability ............................................................................................. - 15 - Rafael Correa Delgado .......................................................................................... - 20 - The Role of the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 2007 , and the Constitución 2008 in the discourse of the government. ....................................................................... - 24 - Why Development? ................................................................................................ - 28 - CHAPTER III, Theory and Literature Review .................................................... - 31 - Theory .................................................................................................................... - 35 - Global Public Goods .......................................................................................... - 35 - Capacities and Capabilities, Freedom and Poverty............................................ - 36 - Justice, Fairness and the State ............................................................................ - 38 - CHAPTER IV, Plan Nacional de Desarrollo ......................................................... - 40 - From failure to success .......................................................................................... - 41 - The state, as a key element of the Revolución Ciudadana ................................ - 45 - The path forward .................................................................................................... - 47 - Queremos una Patria altiva y soberana donde Todos y Todas podamos vivir bien y luchar por lo que soñamos ................................................................................. - 48 - The Discourse of Development .............................................................................. - 52 - - 4 - CHAPTER V, Vulnerability vs. Rights........................................................................ 55 The Notion of Vulnerability ......................................................................................... 56 Being vulnerable understood as being a victim; the critique of notions of vulnerability ............................................................................................................ 58 From Vulnerable to a subject of rights: ................................................................... 62 Identity and Citizenship .............................................................................................. 65 Abstract vs. Concrete .................................................................................................. 67 CHAPTER VI, Citizenship and Nation ...................................................................... 70 Citizenship .................................................................................................................. 71 Rights ...................................................................................................................... 74 Duties ...................................................................................................................... 77 The Patria or the State ................................................................................................ 80 The Citizenship and the Nation ................................................................................... 84 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................... 85 Development from the state in Ecuador, The analysis of the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo and the Constitution 2008, a resume ........................................................ 85 So now what? .............................................................................................................. 88 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 90 - 5 - INTRODUCTION In January 2007 Rafael Correa took office as President of Ecuador with a discourse of change and revolution, as an alternative to the traditional way of doing politics in the country. According to the current administration the discourse of change and revolution represent a series of mechanisms to overcome problems of discrimination in the country that are seen as the result of years of neoliberal governments. At the same time this new revolution requires a new kind of citizen with the possibility to decide the path of development and to participate in the decision making process. The project of Rafael Correa´s government relies on a big state able to oversee initiatives of development in the country and overall in control of planning strategies. My study is an attempt to make sense of the basic notions that are applied by the government and are indented to establish the path for the country to development; notions expressed in both documents I am analyzing here, the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo and the Constitución 2008 . This study is a document analysis done following the rationality of Scriven (1976), seeing selected fragments of the documents as statements made by actors; as informants in a way. My main concern is not whether these arguments are valid or not, but instead the process in which they have been built and thus providing a framework to understand and explore them further. I am also interested in trying to see the effects (hidden meanings) of both documents in the Ecuadorian context. Both documents, the Plan and the Constitution, were presented to the Ecuadorian society as campaign proposals by the current administration and involve a different way of understanding development and the role of the state in planning the economic and governmental activities. This reconfiguration of the state relates more to an idea of a nation in a way equal to the one that existed before the initiatives proposed by institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank (WB). I work with these documents, because I consider that they present central notions of the project for the government in the country. My point of departure is the currently support from the civil society to the project of the government personalized in the figure of Rafael Correa. It is clear that at this point my main focus is not the actual quality of the - 6 - democratic processes, even if this quality might be contested; but instead, I have decided to consider these victories as