Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-70572-1 - Challenging Neoliberalism in Latin America Eduardo Silva Frontmatter More information Challenging Neoliberalism in Latin America At the turn of the 20th century, a concatenation of diverse social movements arose unexpectedly in Latin America, culminating in massive anti-free-market demonstra- tions. These events ushered in governments in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela that advocated socialization and planning, challenging the consensus over neoliberal hegemony and the weakness of movements to oppose it. Eduardo Silva offers the first comprehensive comparative account of these extraordinary events, arguing that the shift was influenced by favorable political associational space, a reformist orientation to demands, economic crisis, and mechanisms that facilitated horizontal linkages among a wide variety of social movement organizations. His ana- lysis applies Karl Polanyi’s theory of the double movement of market society to these events, predicting the dawning of an era more supportive of government intervention in the economy and society. Eduardo Silva is Professor of Political Science and a Fellow of the Center for Inter- national Studies at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. He is the author of The State and Capital in Chile and co-editor of Organized Business, Economic Change, and Demo- cracy in Latin America and Elections and Democratization in Latin America, 1980–85.His articles have appeared in World Politics, Comparative Politics, Development and Change, Latin American Research Review, Journal of Latin American Studies, Latin American Po- litics and Society, and European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, among others. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-70572-1 - Challenging Neoliberalism in Latin America Eduardo Silva Frontmatter More information Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics Editors Mark Beissinger Princeton University Jack A. Goldstone George Mason University Doug McAdam Stanford University and Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences Suzanne Staggenborg University of Pittsburgh Sidney Tarrow Cornell University Charles Tilly Columbia University Elisabeth J. Wood Yale University Deborah Yashar Princeton University Ronald Aminzade et al., Silence and Voice in the Study of Contentious Politics Javier Auyero, Routine Politics and Violence in Argentina: The Gray Zone of State Power Clifford Bob, The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media, and International Activism Charles Brockett, Political Movements and Violence in Central America Gerald F. Davis, Doug McAdam, W. Richard Scott, and Mayer N. Zald, Social Movements and Organization Theory Jack A. Goldstone, editor, States, Parties, and Social Movements Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, and Charles Tilly, Dynamics of Contention Sharon Nepstad, War Resistance and the Plowshares Movement Kevin J. O’Brien and Lianjiang Li, Rightful Resistance in Rural China Silvia Pedraza, Political Disaffection in Cuba’s Revolution and Exodus Sarah A. Soule, Contention and Corporate Responsibility Sidney Tarrow, The New Transnational Activism Ralph Thaxton, Jr., Catastrophe and Contention in Rural China: Mao’s Great Leap Forward Famine and the Origins of Righteous Resistance in Da Fo Village Charles Tilly, Contention and Democracy in Europe, 1650–2000 Charles Tilly, Contentious Performances Charles Tilly, The Politics of Collective Violence Stuart A. Wright, Patriots, Politics, and the Oklahoma City Bombing Deborah Yashar, Contesting Citizenship in Latin America: The Rise of Indigenous Movements and the Postliberal Challenge © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-70572-1 - Challenging Neoliberalism in Latin America Eduardo Silva Frontmatter More information Challenging Neoliberalism in Latin America EDUARDO SILVA University of Missouri–St. Louis © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-70572-1 - Challenging Neoliberalism in Latin America Eduardo Silva Frontmatter More information CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao˜ Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521705721 C Eduardo Silva 2009 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2009 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Silva, Eduardo. Challenging neoliberalism in Latin America / Eduardo Silva. p. cm. – (Cambridge studies in contentious politics) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-521-87993-4 (hardback) – ISBN 978-0-521-70572-1 (pbk.) 1. Neoliberalism – Latin America. 2. Latin America – Economic policy. 3. Latin America – Social policy. 4. Latin America – Economic conditions – 1982– 5. Latin America – Politics and government – 1980– Latin America – Social movements I. Title. II. Series. HC125.S534 2009 320.51 – dc22 2009011590 ISBN 978-0-521-87993-4 Hardback ISBN 978-0-521-70572-1 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-70572-1 - Challenging Neoliberalism in Latin America Eduardo Silva Frontmatter More information For Rebecca, Raphael, and Jillian © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-70572-1 - Challenging Neoliberalism in Latin America Eduardo Silva Frontmatter More information Contents List of Tables page x Preface and Acknowledgments xi List of Acronyms xv 1 THE INCONVENIENT FACT OF ANTI-NEOLIBERAL MASS MOBILIZATION 1 2 CONTENTIOUS POLITICS, CONTEMPORARY MARKET SOCIETY, AND POWER 14 3 THE ARGUMENT: EXPLAINING EPISODES OF ANTI-NEOLIBERAL CONTENTION IN LATIN AMERICA 43 4 ARGENTINA 56 5 BOLIVIA 103 6 ECUADOR 147 7 VENEZUELA 195 8 PERU AND CHILE 230 9 CONCLUSION 266 References 285 Index 313 ix © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-70572-1 - Challenging Neoliberalism in Latin America Eduardo Silva Frontmatter More information List of Tables 3.1 Explaining Episodes of Anti-Neoliberal Contention page 47 4.1 Argentina: Economic and Social Indicators 63 4.2 Argentina: Presidential Elections, 1983–2007 69 4.3 Argentina: Distribution of Seats in the Chamber of Deputies, 1983–2005 69 4.4 Piquetero Membership and Control of Workfare Benefits 80 4.5 Evolution of Roadblocks per District, 1997–2003 83 5.1 Bolivia: Economic and Social Indicators 111 5.2 Bolivia: Presidential Elections, 1985–2005 118 5.3 Bolivia: Distribution of Seats in the Chamber of Deputies, 1985–2005 119 6.1 Ecuador: Presidential Elections, 1984–2006 152 6.2 Ecuador: Distribution of Seats in the Chamber of Deputies, 1986–2006 153 6.3 Ecuador: Economic and Social Indicators 182 7.1 Venezuela: Economic and Social Indicators 202 7.2 Venezuela: Distribution of Seats in the Chamber of Deputies, 1988–2000 211 7.3 Venezuela: Presidential Elections, 1988–2006 212 8.1 Peru: Presidential Elections, 1980–2006 238 8.2 Peru: Distribution of Seats in the Chamber of Deputies, 1980–2006 239 8.3 Peru: Economic and Social Indicators 242 8.4 Chile: Presidential Elections, 1989–2005 257 8.5 Chile: Distribution of Seats in the Chamber of Deputies, 1989–2005 258 8.6 Chile: Economic and Social Indicators 261 x © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-70572-1 - Challenging Neoliberalism in Latin America Eduardo Silva Frontmatter More information Preface and Acknowledgments This project began as a stimulating series of graduate seminars on power, social theory, and contentious politics; and so, my first debt of gratitude goes to the students who accompanied me on that adventure. They nurtured and inspired me. We concluded that the dominant literature on transitions to market economies and liberal democracy missed important facts about those processes. It explained away inequality, denied the legitimacy of claimants when demon- strations occurred, or argued (with patent relief) that destabilizing mobilization had been vanquished. Some studies noted that radical neoliberal reformers were courting social explosion, but offered no further explanation. Yet in the midst of all that theorizing, evidence mounted that neoliberal economic, social, and political reforms were clearly contributing to mobilization by labor, the indige- nous, peasants, and the popular sector in general who experienced neoliberalism as exclusion and injustice. This fact nurtured a burgeoning literature in subaltern studies that analyzed particular national or local events in contentious politics, as well as individual movements, especially the indigenous, women, shantytown dwellers, the unemployed, and labor. This rich literature celebrated their unique properties and qualities,