Abstract

In recent years, the simultaneous development of prominent social movements and the election of left and centre-left governments has radically altered the political landscape in Latin America. These social movements have ranged from the community based 'piqueteros' of Argentina that brought down three governments in the space of a month in 2001 to the indigenous movements in Ecuador and Bolivia that were instrumental in toppling five governments in the last decade. And in the cases of Venezuela and Brazil, social movements helped to provide the political base from which leftist leaders like Hugo Chávez and Lula were swept into power by election. This wide-ranging volume moves beyond simple discussion of these social movements to address an issue that is crucial for politics in the region today but has yet to be properly analysed - specifically, what is the position of the social movements after progressive governments take power. Are they co-opted in support of government policies or do they remain at arm’s length as continuing opponents? How many of the movement's demands are actually met and what happens when the government almost inevitably disappoints its supporters in such movements? This unique and important work explores these questions, shedding new light on how these social movements continue to operate in Latin America.
Carlos Oliva Campos teaches philosophy and history at The University of Havana. Gary Prevost is Professor in the Department of Political Science, St. John’s University/College of Saint Benedict, Minnesota. Harry E. Vanden is Professor of Political Science and International Studies at the University of South Florida, Tampa.
'This collaborative work is the first to systematically address a fundamental question in twenty-first century Latin American politics: How do the newly elected left governments respond to the social movements that played a major role in bringing them to power as well as the pressing economic and social hardships they seek to alleviate? The edited collection provides first-rate analysis of a range of state-social movement interactions - from facilitation to co-optation and repression - in arguably the most important cases in South America.' Paul Almeida, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, University of California, Merced 'This book advances the most exciting debate in the revolutionary Americas: is changing the world by electing radical forces to take state power, or by forging social movements to re-make power locally, the better path to radical social change? Two strong forces meet in these cases studies, and the results are explosive.' John Foran, professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara 'This valuable examination of Latin America's innovative social movements sheds light on their complex, often uneasy interaction with the region's left-leaning governments. The authors' focus on relations between the state and mass mobilization poses a key question for the post-neoliberal era.' Richard Stahler-Sholk, Department of Political Science, Eastern Michigan University