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The Political Process of Buen Vivir: Contentious Politics in Contemporary Ecuador

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The Political Process of Buen Vivir: Contentious Politics in Contemporary Ecuador University of Bath PHD The political process of Buen Vivir : contentious politics in contemporary Ecuador Bressa Florentin, Daniela Award date: 2017 Awarding institution: University of Bath Link to publication Alternative formats If you require this document in an alternative format, please contact: [email protected] General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 30. Sep. 2021 The Political Process of Buen Vivir: Contentious Politics in Contemporary Ecuador Daniela Bressa Florentin A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Bath Department of Social and Policy Sciences June 2016 COPYRIGHT Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis rests with the author. A copy of this thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that they must not copy it or use material from it except as permitted by law or with the consent of the author. This thesis may be made available for consultation within the University Library and may be photocopied or lent to other libraries for the purposes of consultation. 1 No soy nada. Nunca seré nada. No puedo querer ser nada. Aparte de eso, tengo en mí todos los sueños del mundo. Fernando Pessoa, 1928 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..............................................................................................7 DECLARATION.............................................................................................................9 ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................10 LIST OF TABLES and FIGURES ..............................................................................11 LIST OF ACRONYMS and ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................12 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................14 i. Researching Contentious Politics: the State and Social Movements in Latin America ..........................................................................................................14 ii. Rationale: The Rise of Buen Vivir to Politics .............................................................16 iii. Research Questions....................................................................................................21 iv. Structure of the thesis ................................................................................................24 Chapter 1: Contentious Politics and the Making of Buen Vivir in Contemporary Ecuador ..........................................................................................................................27 Introduction .....................................................................................................................27 1.1 Mapping indigenous peoples and nationalities of Ecuador ......................................29 1.1.2 The “Indian” Question ........................................................................................31 1.2 The Making of Modern Indigenous Social Movements in Ecuador .........................33 1.2.1 From Huasipungueros to Peasants (1930-1964).................................................35 1.2.2 Formalising Collective Action: the return of the “Indian” (1964-1990) ............37 1.2.3 Neoliberal times, leadership, and crises (from 1990 up to the present).......................................................................................41 a) The neoliberal turn: defining neoliberalism ......................................................42 b) Leadership ..........................................................................................................47 c) Crises ...................................................................................................................49 1.3 Political Leadership and the Return of the State: Rafael Correa, Revolución Ciudadana and Buen Vivir - a Post-neoliberal era? ...............................51 1.4 Buen Vivir regime: the Constituent Assembly and Ecuador’s national Constitution .................................................................................................53 3 1.5 First and Second Cluster of Publications on Buen Vivir: The decoloniality approach .......................................................................................58 1.6 Towards the interrogation of Buen Vivir as contentious politics ..............................65 Chapter 2: Interrogating Contentious Politics in Latin America: the interaction between social movements and the State ................................................................... 67 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 67 2.1 Social Movements in Latin America ....................................................................... 69 2.2 Identity-based approach ........................................................................................... 73 2.3 Resource-mobilisation approach .............................................................................. 75 2.4 Political Process approach ........................................................................................77 2.5 The State: conceptualisation, role, and responsibilities ............................................81 2.5.1 The specificities of the State in Latin America ...................................................83 2.5.2 The State and Social Movements: dilemmas of a necessary relationship ......... 89 2.5.3 Autonomy and self-determination ..................................................................... 90 2.6 Analytical Framework ..............................................................................................93 a) Framing Processes: Framing Buen Vivir .................................................................94 b) Mobilizing Structures of Buen Vivir ........................................................................96 c) Political Opportunities: Mainstreaming Buen Vivir................................................ 98 2.7 Final Remarks ........................................................................................................ 101 Chapter 3: Methodology.............................................................................................103 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 103 3.1 Qualitative Research Approach: Case Study Design .............................................. 104 3.2 Methods and conduct of empirical research ...........................................................109 3.3 Reflections on the researcher’s position: The Foreigner ........................................ 113 3.4 Ethical considerations ............................................................................................. 118 3.5 Final Remarks ......................................................................................................... 119 Chapter 4: Buen Vivir and the appropriation of political rhetoric: the multiple uses of Buen Vivir in strategic differentiations .........................................................121 Introduction ...................................................................................................................121 4.1 Framing Buen Vivir: legitimacy and authenticity in dispute ..................................122 4.2 Pluralist Sumak Kawsay – the indigenous movement .............................................124 4 a) Pluralist Sumak Kawsay ......................................................................................125 b) Cosmological Sumak Kawsay ............................................................................127 4.3 Buen Vivir as Rational Social Transformation: the construction of the State – Rafael Correa and Alianza País ................................130 4.4 “Deep” Buen Vivir: ecology and post-development in action – environmental activists ............................................................................134 4.4.1 Yasuni-ITT: moment of articulation and moment of differentiation .......................................................................................... 137 4.5 Final Remarks ......................................................................................................... 139 Chapter 5: Mobilising Structures: leadership, alliances and new wave of demonstrations ............................................................................................................142 Introduction ...................................................................................................................142
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