A New Dawn? Indigenous Movements and Ethnic Inclusion in Latin America

Abstract

This article investigates how indigenous movements in Latin America promote the political inclusion of historically marginalized indigenous groups. I argue that the social pressure produced by a strong movement promotes the inclusion of indigenous representatives in formal leadership positions. However, this effect depends both on movements' internal unity and the general responsiveness of the political system. I examine my claims using a mixed-methods design. I draw on a new group-level dataset on ethnic parties and ethnic civil society organizations in Latin America between 1946 and 2009. My statistical analysis finds that indigenous groups with wellorganized movements are more likely to achieve inclusion in executive positions of state power. The level of democratic freedom in a country greatly conditions this effect, while movementinternal factionalism undermines the political effectiveness of indigenous mobilization. I illuminate the causal mechanisms underlying these results in a case study of the rise and decline of indigenous mobilization in Ecuador.

Engaging with elections: Ethno-regional mobilization, demands for federalism, and electoral politics in central Uganda

“…Less is known about preelection engagement that does not target electoral regulation directly, especially when the engagement revolves around ethno-regional issues. Most existing work on ethno-regional mobilization and electoral politics covers either ethno-regional parties in culturally pluralistic states in Europe (Hepburn 2009;Zuber 2011;Gillespie 2015), India (Huber and Suryanarayan 2016) or the entry of indigenous movements into party politics in Latin America (Yashar 2005;Vogt 2016). This body of research supports the argument of this article that while all forms of social mobilization face problems with organizing collective action, ethno-regional demands that challenge state structures and national identities make mobilization more complicated, even in democratic settings.…”

The Power of Words: State Reactions to Protest Announcements

“…Finally, ethnic organizations are pivotal actors in many societies, as the successful lobbying for the inclusion for indigenous representatives in executive positions in Latin America (Vogt, 2016) or the diverse activities of ethnic groups and self-determination movements around the world demonstrate (Cederman, Weidmann, & Gleditsch, 2011; Cunningham et al, 2017). However, ethnic organizations lack the resources that the abovementioned organizations possess in many cases.…”

“…First, they often do not have the institutional strength to be a valid competitor of the government because various organizations from the same ethnic constituency compete for the resources and the representation of the ethnic group. This competition within the same constituency undermines the political power of each individual ethnic organization (Cunningham, Bakke, & Seymour, 2012; Vogt, 2016). Second, the government relies on the support of the major ethnic groups only, because they constitute large parts of the electorate.…”

“…By comparison, a global study of violent campaigns finds that such campaigns have a 12% to 15% chance of being successful, depending on the measurement of success and their demands (Chenoweth & Stephan, 2011, p. 9). A study on politically active ethnic organizations in Latin America shows that their constituencies were politically included at the subnational or national level in approximately 17% of all group years (Vogt, 2016, p. 793). Surely, protest announcements are less successful on average than other tactics of contentious politics.…”

“…The data were obtained from the Nepalese electoral commission. Ethnic organizations are nongovernmental organizations that are mainly composed of members of a specific ethnic group and whose explicit and main purpose is to promote the political interests of the group (Vogt, 2016, p. 793). All other organizations—including ad hoc groups, religious groups, and nongovernmental organizations—were coded as other groups .…”