Abstract, Left Populism, State Building, Class Compromise, and Social Conflict in Ecuador’s Citizens’ Revolution

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Left Populism, State Building, Class Compromise, and Social Conflict in Ecuador’s Citizens’ Revolution

by Patrick Clark and Jacobo García

After Rafael Correa’s 2006 presidential election in Ecuador the governing party of Correa’s Citizens’ Revolution, Alianza PAIS, consolidated political power by undertaking an unprecedented process of state building in the country’s chronically fragmented polity. An analysis of the political and economic strategies it employed emphasizes their mutually reinforcing dynamic. The Alianza PAIS was a “big-tent” party with a vanguard of figures from the traditional political left that relied on brokerage with traditional political bosses at the regional and local levels to achieve political party nationalization. The Correa government was able to consolidate political power because it upheld its initial electoral commitment to abandon orthodox neoliberalism, rebuild the state, and advance social citizenship. The division between Correa and Lenín Moreno after the April 2017 elections and the subsequent implosion of Alianza PAIS put the legacy of the Citizens’ Revolution at risk.

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Abstract, Power, Policy, and Citizen Participation in Santo André, Brazil

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Power, Policy, and Citizen Participation in Santo André, Brazil
by Victor Albert


City master plans assumed a central role in urban planning in Brazil with the promulgation of a new constitution in 1988 and the passage of enacting legislation in 2001. Citizen participation became an important part of this new urban planning framework. In contrast to some of Brazil’s other democratic experiments, participation in urban planning has been received critically or with only cautious optimism. A comparison of two participatory forums in Santo André, São Paulo, shows that established patterns of administrative power can decisively influence the participation of the public in city planning. Differences in the executive structures of the two institutions enabled one of them but not the other to foster open-ended deliberation on policies with members of disadvantaged groups. The study suggests that participation might be enhanced by reserving executive positions for civil society participants, including the public at all stages of policy development, choosing participants largely from disadvantaged groups, and keeping the forum small.

Abstract, Political Change, State Autonomy, and Post-Neoliberalism in Ecuador, 2007–2012 by Franklin Ramírez Gallegos

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Political Change, State Autonomy, and Post-Neoliberalism in Ecuador, 2007–2012 
by Franklin Ramírez Gallegos

Along with other progressive experiments in the region, the government of the Citizens’ Revolution has restored the state to a central position with regard to social coordination and the promotion of economic development. The open conflict created by the return of the state between 2007 and 2012 transformed power relationships, allowing civil government to expand the state’s relative autonomy and orient it toward constructing a public policy agenda associated with transcending neoliberalism. The challenge of this transition has been to modify the pattern of commodity specialization away from the primacy of primary exports. While reappropriating the surplus that comes from the income from strategic resources increases national sovereignty, it may also contribute to preserving the nation’s position in the international division of labor. The National Plan for Living Well aims at overcoming the centrality of the primary sector and of oil exports in the national economy.

Abstract, Counterhegemony in the Media under Rafael Correa’s Citizens’ Revolution by Philip Kitzberger

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Counterhegemony in the Media under Rafael Correa’s Citizens’ Revolution 
by Philip Kitzberger

The Citizens’ Revolution, the political process initiated in Ecuador with the presidential inauguration of Rafael Correa in 2007, initiated a radical transformation in the media comparable to other progressive governmental experiments in the region. The political process led by Correa has pursued a change in power relations and ownership, the introduction of regulation, the demystification of the established media discourse, and an abandonment of the market as a guiding principle in the media. From the perspective of the equitable redistribution of media power, however, it is still an open process whose outcome is uncertain.

Abstract, Political Change, State Autonomy, and Post-Neoliberalism in Ecuador, 2007–2012 by Franklin Ramírez Gallegos

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Political Change, State Autonomy, and Post-Neoliberalism in Ecuador, 2007–2012 
by Franklin Ramírez Gallegos

Along with other progressive experiments in the region, the government of the Citizens’ Revolution has restored the state to a central position with regard to social coordination and the promotion of economic development. The open conflict created by the return of the state between 2007 and 2012 transformed power relationships, allowing civil government to expand the state’s relative autonomy and orient it toward constructing a public policy agenda associated with transcending neoliberalism. The challenge of this transition has been to modify the pattern of commodity specialization away from the primacy of primary exports. While reappropriating the surplus that comes from the income from strategic resources increases national sovereignty, it may also contribute to preserving the nation’s position in the international division of labor. The National Plan for Living Well aims at overcoming the centrality of the primary sector and of oil exports in the national economy.

Abstract, Counterhegemony in the Media under Rafael Correa’s Citizens’ Revolution by Philip Kitzberger

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Counterhegemony in the Media under Rafael Correa’s Citizens’ Revolution 
by Philip Kitzberger

The Citizens’ Revolution, the political process initiated in Ecuador with the presidential inauguration of Rafael Correa in 2007, initiated a radical transformation in the media comparable to other progressive governmental experiments in the region. The political process led by Correa has pursued a change in power relations and ownership, the introduction of regulation, the demystification of the established media discourse, and an abandonment of the market as a guiding principle in the media. From the perspective of the equitable redistribution of media power, however, it is still an open process whose outcome is uncertain.