ABSTRACT Title of Document: CIVIL SOCIETY, POPULAR PROTEST, AND DEMOCRACY IN LATIN AMERICA Eduardo Ohav Frajman, PhD, 2006 Directed By: Professor C. Fred Alford, Department of Government and Politics This dissertation addresses the relationship between mobilized coalitions of movements and organizations emerging from civil society and the promotion of democracy. It offers a critique of major works in political theory that see in civil society the potential to transform democratic politics, primarily through the protection of civil society from the state in order to allow for the development of new identities and forms of sociability. The three main theoretical objections to these works involve their focus on state-civil society relations at the expense of economic factors, the presupposition that consensus is present in civil society, and the assumption that mobilized civil societies are fueled from the grassroots. Four recent cases of civil society mobilizations from Latin America, in Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Bolivia, are presented to illustrate the deficiencies of current theoretical approaches to civil society. The case studies show the importance of material conditions and the framing of specific grievances in the formation of popular movements grounded in civil society. CIVIL SOCIETY, POPULAR PROTEST, AND DEMOCRACY IN LATIN AMERICA By Eduardo Ohav Frajman Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2006 Advisory Committee: Professor C. Fred Alford, Chair Dr. Ken Conca Dr. David Crocker Dr. William Galston Dr. Roberto Patricio Korzienewicz Dr. Valdimir Tismaneanu © Copyright by Eduardo Ohav Frajman 2006 Dedication To my parents, Mauricio and Lola, for pointing me towards the path of the search for truth, free of myth and dogma. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee, for their guidance, patience, and example throughout the process of preparing my dissertation. Dr. Fred Alford was not only a great mentor, but he embodies the qualities I aspire to as a scholar and as an intellectual. I consider his open-mindedness and keen critical insight as two of the most important strengths a serious thinker should possess. Ken Conca was my savior, who read every line of my work and provided criticism when needed, but most of all constant encouragement. He has the rare ability of making me believe in my work. Professors David Crocker, Stephen Elkin, Roberto Patricio Korzienewicz, William Galston, and Vladimir Tismaneanu were all invaluable, each in their own way, in providing a variety of critical perspectives that immensely aided me in formulating my ideas and structuring them into a coherent whole. I am also thankful to other faculty at the Department of Government and Politics for their instruction, mentorship, and example. In particular, I am indebted to Joe Oppenheimer for his friendship and constant show of support, professionally and personally. Charles Butterworth, James Glass, Doug Grob, Marc Howard, Virginia Haufler, and Ernest Wilson all played their part in making my graduate experience an extraordinarily fruitful one. The Department staff, particularly Ann Marie Clark, provided all the support one could hope for or need. Most of all, I am thankful to my family. My siblings, Jimmy, Tammy, Yehonatan, and Gaby, for their love and support throughout. My parents, Mauricio and Lola, who have always encouraged me to develop as a man and as a thinker, and without whose love and example I would be nowhere. To Ray and Allyn, my second iii parents, who have been there for me unconditionally. To my wife, Marla, for being the best friend and companion I could wish for, for her patience and understanding and the benefit of her wisdom, for sharing my joys and frustrations, and for setting the bar so high in our relationship of equals. And to Alicia, for being there to brighten my life and remind me of what is truly important. iv Table of Contents Dedication..................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements......................................................................................................iii Table of Contents.......................................................................................................... v Chapter 1: Introduction................................................................................................. 1 Civil Society Uprisings in Latin America............................................................... 15 Chapter 2: Civil Society in Political Theory............................................................... 29 Transitions to Democracy and the Revival of Civil Society................................... 31 Civil Society and Social Movements: Fighting Democracy with Democracy ....... 46 Civil Society in the Shape of a Social Movement .................................................. 56 Chapter 3: Crisis and Protest in Argentina ................................................................. 67 Social Protest in Argentina before 1996 ................................................................. 72 Peronists and Militaries (1940-1983).................................................................. 72 Dual Transition (1983-1995) .............................................................................. 78 The Protest Cycle (1996-2002)............................................................................... 85 New Actors, New Alliances (1996-1999)........................................................... 85 Argentina “On Fire” (2000-2002)....................................................................... 95 Demobilization (2003-?)....................................................................................... 116 Conclusions: Civil Society and the State in Argentina......................................... 120 Chapter 4: Costa Rica’s New Critical Juncture ........................................................ 126 Political Transition: The Costa Rican Second Republic (1948-1978).................. 131 Economic Transition (1979-2000)........................................................................ 138 The Historical Significance of the ICE............................................................. 142 The Decline of Public Trust in Politics............................................................. 145 The Popular Movement against the Combo.......................................................... 149 Chapter 5: Fragile Democracy in the Andes............................................................ 166 Ecuador: Democracy in the ‘Post-Liberal’ Age.................................................... 169 Bolivia’s Popular Wars......................................................................................... 186 Conclusions – Civil Society and the State in Ecuador and Bolivia ...................... 194 Chapter 6: General Conclusions .............................................................................. 198 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 221 This Table of Contents is automatically generated by MS Word, linked to the Heading formats used within the Chapter text. v Chapter 1: Introduction The view that mass popular movements rooted in civil society play an important role in the promotion of democracy has become entrenched among academics and policymakers across the globe in the past three decades. Citizen mobilizations, encompassing a wide range of social actors and held together not by class or ethnic affiliations but by a common political project, have been instrumental in many countries in forcing the reform of political institutions, increased legitimacy and responsiveness on the part of governments, and the protection of rights and privileges inherent in democratic life. Yet, the ideal of a mobilized civil society has been developed by political theorists both too narrowly – paying attention to events in which civil societies pursue very specific goals – and too optimistically – overstating the impact that civil society can have, by itself, on national politics. The term ‘civil society,’ as is well known, attracted scholarly attention in the 1980’s and 1990’s as a result of its use by dissident intellectuals in Eastern Europe and Latin America in the 70’s and 80’s to make sense of the growing discontent with authoritarian political regimes intent on decimating social ties that could threaten their hold on power. Labor unions, students, and scholars fought the intrusion of overbearing states on social relations and private affairs through non-violent, public actions of resistance, articulating their efforts as those of “civil society against the state” (Arato 1981). Students of transitions to democracy during the “third wave of democratization” (Huntington 1993) similarly recognized the presence and importance of popular movements that exerted pressure on state governments to respect citizens’ rights and to adopt democratic institutions through the use of 1 collective protest. In their influential analysis of Latin American transitions to democracy in the 1970’s and 1980’s, Guillermo O’Donnell and Phillipe Schmitter (1986) see the locus of popular power thus: In some cases and at particular moments of the transition, many of these diverse layers of society