Social Protest and Democratic Responsiveness: Assessing Realities in Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union (original) (raw)
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Social Protest in Latin America: Democratic Crisis
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Perspectives on Protest in Latin America
In K. Malley-Morrison, A. Mercurio, & G. Twose (Eds.), International handbook of peace and reconciliation (pp. 237-246). New York, NY: Springer., 2013
This chapter focuses on the perspectives on protest in a sample of Latin Americans from seven countries. We first define the context in which protest occurs in Latin America, directed principally to economic needs and inequalities. We next describe the dynamic relationship between protesters and the state, wherein the government tries to maintain power and control and the protesters try to change the government, a policy, or the extent of its power. We also review perceptions of political institutions that are widely viewed as weak, the institutionalization of the party system is low, and there are high levels of legislative fragmentation. Furthermore, we address the importance of the blogosphere and Internet and the extent to which they serve as ways to communicate and organize social movements. Finally, we report on the responses of the sample to two items concerning protest on the Personal and Institutional Rights to Aggression and Peace Survey. The results indicate that Latin Americans are supportive of the right to protest, and demonstrate prosocial agency in regard to a scenario that describes police beating peaceful protesters; however, there are some responses that showed lack of agency, and women are more likely than men to provide prosocial responses to the prompt, whereas men were more likely than women to provide antisocial responses.
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Since the mid-1980s, Venezuela has been perceived both at home and abroad as a society in constant mobilization. Following the Amparo massacre in 1988 and the so-called Caracazo in 1989, the number of protests registered has generally been high, although naturally some years have been more turbulent than others. By way of contrast, in the early 1980s Venezuela was generally considered one of the countries in Latin America least prone to popular mobilizations. It was argued that its firm democratic institutions and substantial oil revenue had facilitated the consolidation of efficient mechanisms for mediation and representation, thus avoiding internecine social conflict. The Venezuelans were "different" from the rest of Latin America precisely because they had apparently succeeded in overcoming the sociopolitical turbulence endemic to the region. In academic circles this attitude was reflected in the literature that postulated the "exceptionalism" of Venezuela within the Latin American context. The sharp contrast between these two perceptions obliges us to reexamine the question of "street politics" in Venezuela since 1958. This article analyzes popular protest before and after the 1980s to demonstrate that, despite changes, the protests of the past were not substantially different from the more recent ones either in their frequency or in their motives and other aspects. Using the empirical information available in the Base de Datos El Bravo Pueblo (BDEBP) and in the annual reports of the Programa Venezolano de Educaci6n y Acci6n en Derechos Humanos (Venezuelan Program for Education and Action on Human Rights-Provea), we conclude that the characteristics of popular protest in recent decades are less of a Margarita L6pez Maya, a historian, is a professor at the Facultad de Ciencias Econ6micas y Sociales of the Universidad Central de Venezuela. She is editor of the Revista Venezolana de Economia y Ciencias Sociales and the coauthor (with Med6filo Medina) of Venezuela: Confrontacidn social y polarizacidn politica (2003). Luis Lander is a professor of economic and social sciences at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and the editor of Poderypetrdleo en Venezuela (2003). Dick Parker teaches Latin American studies at the Universidad Central de Venezuela.
SALDRU Working Paper Number 299, 2023
The last years have observed a series of mounting challenges that have deepened tensions in the region, as illustrated by the increase in the number of protests in the region. The increase in tensions relate to the intersection of worsening of living conditions for millions of citizens- a consequence of the pandemic, the ripple effects of Russian aggression towards Ukraine, and the concerns about a coming global recession. These tensions will bring challenges to political systems across the region, manifested in the occurrence of different types of protests, and the risk of declining support for democracy in Latin America, should governments fail to respond to the demands of their citizens.
Civil Society, Popular Protest, and Democracy in Latin America
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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.
Social Sciences, 2024
In the wake of the advancements made in civil and human rights in the twentieth century, social movements have come to be regarded as a driving force behind social change. Nevertheless, evidence demonstrates that social transformations driven by certain citizen mobilisations do not always prove beneficial to the most marginalised groups. In January 2023, acts of vandalism were perpetrated against the buildings of public institutions in Brasilia. Similarly, anti-democratic mobilisations have been observed in Colombia against the peace agreement with the FARC and in Chile against the proposed more inclusive constitution. Globally, anti-democracy and other movements that are in opposition to human rights are gaining ground, and their effects are having a detrimental impact on the environment in which organisations that are advocating for excluded sectors are operating. However, Latin American perspectives of social and behaviour change (SBC) emphasise engagement with social movements to contribute to social justice, creating alliances to amplify the voices of those most affected without interfering with the organic nature of citizen-led movements. This prompts the following inquiries: Can we categorize as social movements those with popular roots but espousing hegemonic interests? How can the Latin American tradition of social movement action and reflection inform strategies for social change? How can SBC strategies counteract anti-human rights movements and empower social movements prone to inclusion? This essay addresses these questions.