Theme nine: Politics of Discontent in the Southern Cone.
Participants and abstracts.
Theme coordinators:
Prof. Dr. Patricio Silva (Leiden University)
[email protected]
Dr. Michelle Carmody (Leiden University)
[email protected]
Participants:
1. ‘Political Disaffection and Antiparty Mood in Chile during the 1950s and 2010s’, Joaquín Fernandéz Abara, Finis Terrae University.
2. ‘Negotiating the Nation in Cuenca, Ecuador’, Luz Marina Castillo Astudillo, Politecnica Salesiana University.
3. ‘Conflicts over the Use of the National Past in Argentina’, Michelle Carmody, Leiden University.
4. ‘From the “Best President on Earth” to the Call for Impeachment: Transformative Democracy, Popular Protest and Political Discontent in Brazil: From Lula to Dilma’, Kees Koonings,
Utrecht University.
5. ‘Chile: Between the Mythology of Legalism, Political Disaffection and the Crisis of Leadership’, Pablo Isla Monsalve, Leiden University.
6. ‘Subverting Democracy through “Political Networks”? State-Social Movements Relations in
Bolivia’, Soledad Valdivia Rivera, Leiden University.
7. ‘Assessing present-day Political Discontent in Chilean Democracy’, Patricio Silva, Leiden University.
Introduction
The past five years have seen the emergence of multitudinous protests across Latin America, the
Middle East and more recently East Asia. In these protests we see the middle class emerging as a
major political actor, making demands over democracy and representation. This is despite rapid advances in economic development and living standards that, as the literature used to lead us to believe, would eventually result in deeper democratization and a more stable polity.
In several South American countries (such as Argentina, Chile, and Brazil) the new forms of
protest that have emerged in recent years have not been over the form and content of citizenship.
Today, the new social movements are rather seeking change within the existing structure. Middle
class movements are seeking to reaffirm state-civil society relations and are insisting on the central
role of the state in mediating their demands. They are claiming that the state has not lived up to its
part of the democratic contract, and are demanding that it start to do so.
This panel will explore the various dimensions of the revolution of rising expectations as it
has played out on various national stages in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Chile. It
will look at the core demands of middle class protests and examine them in terms of the implications
they have for the ongoing process of forming and consolidating democratic states. Key to understanding this will be the influence of economic growth and past inequality, and the question of legitimacy. In doing so, it will deepen understandings of how these new forms of protest against the state
transform the practice of democracy as well as national identity.
Abstracts
Abara, Joaquín Fernandéz (Finis Terrae University)
[email protected]
Political Disaffection and Antiparty Mood in Chile during the 1950s and 2010s
My paper explores two moments in the recent political history of Chile which have been characterized by the existence of strong political disaffection and anti-party criticism. These are the 1950s, the
late period of the Radical Party governments and the second administration Carlos Ibáñez; and the
2010s, during the government of Michelle Bachelet and Sebastián Piñera. In this comparative analysis I will pay attention to both the forms acquired by anti-party discourse and how this was reflected
on voters’ turnout. Also attention will be paid to the formation and practice of new social organizations and the emergence of new political parties and movements.
Astudillo, Luz Maria Castillo (Politecnica Salesiana University)
[email protected]
Negotiating the Nation in Cuenca, Ecuador
(…)
Carmody, Michelle (Leiden University)
[email protected]
Conflicts over the Use of the National Past in Argentina
Since the 2001 crisis political leaders in Argentina have increasingly referred to the authoritarian past
to legitimise their national project. Conflicts over the past have become transformed into conflicts
over post-authoritarian democracy and the national democratic project. This paper explores the implications of these conflicts in light of post-authoritarian forms of democracy and national-populist
rule.
Koonings, Kees (Utrecht University)
[email protected]
From the “Best President on Earth” to the Call for Impeachment: Transformative Democracy, Popular Protest and Political Discontent in Brazil: From Lula to Dilma
When Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva concluded his second presidential term in late 2010 he enjoyed unprecedented approval rates of around 80 percent. Barack Obama is believed to have called him the
most successful president on earth at the time. His pinpointed successor, Dilma Rousseff easily won
the Brazilian presidential elections in October 2010, under the expectation to continue Brazil’s success story of economic growth, social reform, and growing international prestige. Five years later, the
situation has changed dramatically. While Brazil’s economy went into decline, president Dilma
Rousseff first faced a wave of pre-FIFA World Cup popular protest in 2013 and 2014, and then an
altogether different form of protest after her tight re-election in October 2014 that re-appeared in
2015. The most recent wave of protest tried to frame the president as a political delinquent, demanding her impeachment. I will examine both waves of protest and discontent in order to understand the apparent demise of the ‘transformative’ democratic project of the leftist coalition led by
the Partido dos Trabalhadores since 2003.
Monsalve, Pablo Isla (Leiden University)
[email protected]
Chile: Between the Mythology of Legalism, Political Disaffection and the Crisis of Leadership
(…)
Rivera, Soledad Valdivia (Leiden University)
[email protected]
Subverting Democracy through “Political Networks”? State-Social Movements Relations in Bolivia
From the year 2000 various social movements in Bolivia have become central players in national politics, overturning two presidents, causing the reversion of national policy and bringing to power the
first head of state of indigenous origin, president Evo Morales. Since 2006 the Morales administration has embarked in the implementation of a wide set of reforms, intended to ‘re-found’ the nation
as a ‘plurinational’ state, to allow the integration of historical marginalized populations (as represented in the social movements) and particularly the indigenous peoples. Morales’ political party
Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), resembling more a coalition of social movements rather than a
political party, has brought the social movements into the State apparatus. This contradicts the dominant Latin American scholarly debate that has characterized social movements by their manifest
antagonism vis-à-vis the State. This debate had generally emphasized the autonomy of social movements as key to attaining their objectives. When looking at the Bolivian social movements through
conventional concepts of ‘autonomy’ and ‘co-optation’, contradictions emerge regarding the boundaries that separate the ‘autonomous’ social movement and the ‘co-optative’ state.
This paper suggests the concept of ‘political networks’ to study the relation between the
social movements and the State. This conceptualization proves effective in solving many of the tensions that arise from more conventional views of the relationship. Through the analysis of two new
laws (the Law of Political Organisations and the Law of Social Control and Participation) and recent
conflicts between social movements and the State, the paper will show how the politics of discontent
of social movements are subverting and innovating the dominant categories of democracy. This paper builds on the ongoing academic debate on social movements and the construction of democracy
in Latin America (Foweraker, 1995; Nylen, 2003; Gutmann and Thompson, 2004; Dagnino et al.,
2006; Stahler-Sholk et al., 2008; L. Domike, 2008) and the recent academic debate that questions the
‘a-political’ character of social movements and the distinction between ‘institutional’ and ‘noninstitutional’ politics (Goldstone, 2003; Pelletier and Guérin, 1998; Tilly and Tarrow, 2007; Tarrow,
1998; Seferiades and Johnston, 2012; Johnston, 2011). It concludes that, aside some points of concern, the central role of social movements in ‘political networks’ has generally had positive effects on
the process of democratization of the Andean country.
Silva, Patricio (Leiden University)
[email protected]
Assessing present-day Political Discontent in Chilean Democracy
(…)