Indigenous movements and their successes: representation and legal recognition in the Andes

During the last decade, indigenous movements in the Andean region have made impressive gains in political representation, notwithstanding the unfavorable context in which they operate. They did so by taking advantage of the conjuncture of institutional crisis and constitutional reform to link their demands to those of the political elite, which sought to strengthen the legitimacy of democratic institutions. As a result, the institutional context today is more favorable for new political movements wishing to participate in formal politics –particularly for indigenous movements–. Moreover, indigenous movements have taken advantage of the weakness of traditional parties and party systems to carve out a space for themselves as leaders of or partners in coalitions against neoliberal reform and corruption

Bolivia and the paradoxes of democratic consolidation

In Bolivia from the 1990s on, two presidents were ousted by popular protests, and protests were rampant. The protests expressed a growing discontent not only with successive administrations and their policies but with politics itself. The polity failed to built trust in democracy, ignored or repressed protests, and thus contributed to a process of democratic "deconsolidation." The main factors were corruption and the reluctance of the traditional political parties to discuss the neoliberal economic model. As a result, the current administration of Evo Morales faces two challenges: to change economic policies and to repair the support for democracy

Candomblé and the Academic's Tools : Religious Expertise and the Binds of Recognition in Brazil

ABSTRACT Latin American state efforts to recognize ethnically and racially marked populations have focused on knowledge and expertise. This article argues that this form of state recognition does not only call on subaltern groups to present themselves in a frame of expertise. It also pushes such groups to position themselves and their social and political struggles in a matrix based on expertise and knowledge. In the context of early 2000s Brazil, the drive to recognition led activists from the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé to reimagine the religion's practitioners? long-term engagements with scholars and scholarly depictions of the religion as a form of epistemological exploitation that had resulted in public misrecognition of the true source of knowledge on the religion: Candomblé practitioners. To remedy this situation, the activists called on Candomblé practitioners to appropriate the ?academic's tools,? the modes of representation by which scholarly expertise and knowledge were performed and recognized by the general public and state officials. This strategy transformed religious structures of expertise and knowledge in ways that established a new, politically efficacious epistemological grounding for Candomblé practitioners? calls for recognition. But it also further marginalized temples with limited connections or access to scholars and higher education. [politics of recognition, politics of expertise, state recognition, Candomblé religion, Brazil]Peer reviewe

Indigenous movements and their successes: representation and legal recognition in the Andes

During the last decade, indigenous movements in the Andean region have made impressive gains in political representation, notwithstanding the unfavorable context in which they operate. They did so by taking advantage of the conjuncture of institutional crisis and constitutional reform to link their demands to those of the political elite, which sought to strengthen the legitimacy of democratic institutions. As a result, the institutional context today is more favorable for new political movements wishing to participate in formal politics –particularly for indigenous movements–. Moreover, indigenous movements have taken advantage of the weakness of traditional parties and party systems to carve out a space for themselves as leaders of or partners in coalitions against neoliberal reform and corruption.Durante la última década el movimiento indígena en los países andinos ha obtenido importantes avances en cuanto a su representación a pesar del contexto poco favorable en que operaba. El movimiento avanzó creciendo gracias a la capacidad de hacer valer sus demandas en una coyuntura marcada por una notable crisis institucional y el consiguiente proceso de reformas constitucionales que tenían como fin legitimar los regímenes. El resultado de esta dinámica supuso un contexto institucional favorable para los movimientos políticos que pretendían participar en la política convencional –y particularmente a los movimientos indígenas–. A la vez, dichos movimientos aprovecharon también la debilidad de las tradicionales formaciones partidarias y los consiguientes sistemas de partidos con el fin de liderar el descontento contra las reformas neoliberales y la corrupción

Indigenous movements and their successes: representation and legal recognition in the Andes

Durante la última década el movimiento indígena en los países andinos ha obtenido importantes avances en cuanto a su representación a pesar del contexto poco favorable en que operaba. El movimiento avanzó creciendo gracias a la capacidad de hacer valer sus demandas en una coyuntura marcada por una notable crisis institucional y el consiguiente proceso de reformas constitucionales que tenían como fin legitimar los regímenes. El resultado de esta dinámica supuso un contexto institucional favorable para los movimientos políticos que pretendían participar en la política convencional –y particularmente a los movimientos indígenas–. A la vez, dichos movimientos aprovecharon también la debilidad de las tradicionales formaciones partidarias y los consiguientes sistemas de partidos con el fin de liderar el descontento contra las reformas neoliberales y la corrupción.During the last decade, indigenous movements in the Andean region have made impressive gains in political representation, notwithstanding the unfavorable context in which they operate. They did so by taking advantage of the conjuncture of institutional crisis and constitutional reform to link their demands to those of the political elite, which sought to strengthen the legitimacy of democratic institutions. As a result, the institutional context today is more favorable for new political movements wishing to participate in formal politics –particularly for indigenous movements–. Moreover, indigenous movements have taken advantage of the weakness of traditional parties and party systems to carve out a space for themselves as leaders of or partners in coalitions against neoliberal reform and corruption