Graduate School of Social Sciences MSc International Development Studies
June 2018
Contentious Development: Extraction and (Re)action?
The Political Opportunity Structure of Anti-Mining Movements During Ecuador’s Political Transition
James Green 11251492
Supervisor: Josh K. Maiyo Second Reader: Mirjam Ros-Tonen
Abstract
After a decade of rapid expansion in Ecuador’s mining sector and restricted civil space during Rafael Correa’s government, this thesis examines how anti-mining social movements have responded to the political structure of new president, Lenin Moreno. While literature on political opportunity structure is vast, previous work has failed to address how political transitions, from repressive to facilitative conditions, influence the mobilisation and efficacy of social movements. Empirical data is presented from qualitative interviews with social actors from environmental and human rights organisations in Quito as well as rural-indigenous movements surrounding the Mirador mine in the Amazonian province Zamora-Chinchipe. Firstly, results show that in ending the political process of Buen Vivir, Moreno has rejuvenated hope amongst anti-mining movements for a re-articulation of the previously contested concept as a mobilising frame. Second, the institutional framework and openness of Moreno’s administration to collective action and social pressure is conducive to the facilitation of anti-mining demands. Third, the anti-anti-mining front perceive new opportunities for social mobilisation and have strengthened their organisational networks with a focus on connecting urban and rural movements. Although the findings suggest a correlation between political opportunity and anti-mining mobilisation, proactive protest activity by indigenous movements after Moreno’s election may have created future conditions for their own political opportunity. The paper offers insights on the capacity for social movements to adapt to their political environment and the efficacy of political participation during democratic transitions. As such, the paper provides a better understanding of the interchange between the state and social movements during transitional periods and contributes to the complex theoretical relationship between political structure and social agency.
Table of Contents Abstract
Contents
Introduction………..………..6
1) State-Society Relations and Contentious Development………10
i. Introduction ………10
ii. New Social Movements………....10
a. Resource-Mobilisation Approach……….13
b. Political Opportunity Structure (POS)………..13
1. Framing………14
2. Political Opportunity………15
3. Mobilising Structures………...16
iii. Nature and Contentious Development………18
a. Modernisation & Neoliberal Paradigms………18
b. Human & Sustainable Development………19
c. Buen Vivir……….20
iv. Conceptual Scheme……….22
v. Operationalisation………24
2) The Political Opportunity Structure of Correa’s ‘Citizens’ Revolution’.25 i) Introduction……….25
ii) 1990s: Neoliberal Turn, Political Unrest & Economic Crisis………..…..26
iii) The Rise of Ecuador’s Indigenous & Environmental Movements……..……..27
iv) Correa’s ‘Citizens’ Revolution’……….28
v) Structuring Civil Society’s ‘fields of action’………...29
vi) Mining Law and Neo-extractivism………...30
vii) Framing ‘Resource Nationalism’………..32
viii) Yasuni-ITT Initiative………...33
ix) Criminalising Mobilisation around the Mirador Mine……….34
x) Correa’s Authoritarianism: ‘So that no one can demand anything’………….35
xi) Lenín Moreno: More of the Same?...36
xii) Concluding Remarks: Correa’s Political Opportunity Structure……….37
3) Methodology………38
i. Research Location………38
ii. Epistemology & Research Design………40
iii. Units of Analysis & Sampling………...40
iv. Data Collection………41
v. Data Analysis………42
vi. Fieldwork Challenges & Ethics……….43
4) Framing Mining Conflicts and the Political Process of Buen Vivir………45
i. Introduction……….45
ii. Plural Valuations of Nature……….45
iii. Whose Development?...48
iv. The Revival of Buen Vivir?...52
v. Concluding Remarks………56
5) Lenín Moreno: Restructuring Political Opportunity?...57
i. Introduction……….57
ii. Restructuring Institutional Framework………57
iii. Openness to Mining Mobilisations………..60
iv. Openness to Anti-mining Demands……….65
v. Concluding Remarks………66
6) Mobilising Ecuador’s Anti-Mining Front……….68
i. Introduction……….68
ii. Perception of Democratic Conditions……….68
iii. Perception of Opportunity………...72
iv. Collaborative Networks & Micro-mobilisations………...73
v. Concluding Remarks………76
7) Discussion & Conclusions………77
i. Summary of Research Findings………...77
a) Framing………..78
b) Political Opportunity ……….79
c) Mobilising Structures………...………..80
ii. Discussion……….81
iii. Recent Developments………..83
Acronyms & Abbreviations
AP - Alianza Pais
ARCOM - Mining Regulation Agency
BV - Buen Vivir
CASCOMI - Comunidad Amazónica de Acción Social Cordillera del Cóndor Mirador
CONAIE - Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador CPCCS - Council for Civil Participation and Social Accountability DECOIN - Defensa y Conservacion Ecologica de Intag
FEI - Federation of Ecuadorian Indians FESHZCH - Federación Shuar de Zamora Chinchipe
INREDH - Fundación Regional de Asesoría en Derechos Humanos OCARU - Observatorio Del Cambio Rural
SENPLADES - National Secretariat of Planning and Development
List of Figures
1. Conceptual Scheme. Courtesy of author.
2. Map of Research Location. Source: K. Van Teijlingen. 3. Photo of El Mirador mining project. Courtesy of the author. 4. Photo of Zamora’s Lineal Park. Photo Credit: Carlos Rodríguez.
5. Photo of Government Billboard in Zamora. Photo Credit: K. Van Teijlingen. 6. Photo of Plaza Grande from the Presidential Palace. Courtesy of the author. 7. Photo of CONAIE’s meeting with Lenin Moreno. Photo Credit: El Universo.
Introduction
Nature, or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and occurs, has the right to integral respect for its existence and for the maintenance and regeneration of its life cycles, structure, functions and evolutionary processes. All persons, communities, peoples and nations can call upon public authorities to enforce the rights of nature.
Article 71 – Ecuador’s Constitution 2008 The non-renewable natural resources are the inalienable, imprescriptible and indefeasible property of the state. [...] Its rational exploration and exploitation will serve national interests.
Article 16 – Ecuador’s Mining Bill 2009
Societal and economic change in Latin America can be understood in relation to its richness of natural resources and biodiversity. Nearly half of the world’s tropical forests are found on the continent as well as one third of the world’s freshwater reserves (De Castro et al., 2016). Despite five centuries of extractive activity in the region, this is equally matched by its large volumes of mineral reserves, including oil, gas, iron, copper and gold (ibid.). The 1990s saw a substantial flow of global investment into mining that has reshaped Latin America’s political economy and had profound social change. Four of the top ten target countries for mining investment were Latin American: Chile, Peru, Argentina and Mexico (Bebbington et al., 2008). These economic investments marked the immersion of the continent into a globalised system guided by neoliberal economic policy. However, economic development realised through advancements in the mining sector served to fuel social antagonisms across the continent, whereby issues of poverty, inequality and environmental protection are closely intertwined (De Castro et al., 2016). Mining expansion was met with a new surge of widespread civic discontent and social mobilisation from excluded indigenous and rural groups as well as post-materialist environmental organisations. As emphasised by Bebbington et al. (2008), social movements demand a revision of society-nature interaction and play an important role in mediating large-scale mining and the process of capital accumulation.
With the mining frontier in Latin America continuing to expand into non-traditional territories like Ecuador, there is an increasing need to better understand the dynamics of these conflicts. The election of president Rafael Correa in 2006 led to the radical transformation of Ecuador’s extractive sector and the country opened its doors to mining investment. As such, Ecuador’s
mining industry is expected to grow eightfold between 2017 and 2021 (Jamasmie, 2017). The most affected social groups from this expansion have predominantly been marginalised rural and indigenous communities living around mining concessions, highlighting issues of social exclusion and localised environmental impacts. For instance, the Amazonian province Zamora-Chinchipe, a traditional territory of the indigenous Shuar people, has already seen over half of its land granted to mining concessions (FIDH, 2010: 5). These rapid advancements in the mining sector place Ecuador at the forefront of Latin America’s extractive frontier.
The initial inspirations for this fieldwork research were drawn from a curiosity in the seeming incompatibility between the rights of nature, as enshrined in Ecuador’s 2008 constitution, and the country’s nascent extractive sector. The inclusion of an indigenous cosmovision, Buen Vivir, in the national constitution appeared to be a significant step in creating spaces for the de-colonial production of knowledge or ‘worlds otherwise’ (Escobar, 2007). After being elected for his condemnation of neoliberal ideology that won him popular support from both indigenous and environmental social movements, Correa appeared to turn his back on their cause. The incongruities between Ecuador’s Constitution and its Mining Bill foretell of a decade of intensified resource extraction and contentious relationship between state and society and provides a pertinent entry point for this research.
The day the mining bill was passed was labelled as ‘The Day of Mobilisation for Life’ by social movements opposed to the welcoming of large-scale mining. Four thousand indigenous activists blockaded the Latacunga-Ambato highway in the south, and ten thousand protestors mobilised across the country (Dosh & Kligerman, 2009). Some protest leaders were detained and charged with terrorism and one Amazonian leader was found later with a gunshot wound in his head (ibid.). The uprisings were the first of many during Correa’s administration. The president declared mining as central to his national development model and promoted the redistribution of mining revenue to alleviate poverty. Determined that mining could solve social and economic strife in the country, Correa repressed social mobilisations through the criminalisation of protests and the use of military force to push through his extractive model. During Correa’s presidency national poverty dropped considerably at the cost of environmental degradation and increasing national debt.
As such, Correa’s successor, Lenín Moreno, must overcome economic issues and social fragmentation to provide national stability. After being elected president in May 2017, Moreno
seems determined to break from Correa’s legacy and re-articulate state-society relations in Ecuador. For Bebbington et al., (2008) the nature, scope, and extent of social mobilisations against mining have temporal and contextual variations. It is this assumption that provides fertile ground for analysis during Ecuador’s political transition. The aim of this research is to examine how anti-mining social movements have responded to Moreno’s new government and what opportunities they have for mobilisation within its political structure. Despite its importance, literature on extraction and social movements in Latin America is remarkably sparse (Bebbington, 2012).
This thesis will add to the literature by applying political opportunity structure (POS) as a theoretical lens. Political opportunity structure concentrates on the explicit links between state structure and social movement activism. This will provide a pertinent analytical framework to better understand the complex dynamics between the state and anti-mining movements during Ecuador’s political transition. Beyond this, the paper hopes to contribute to the theoretical discussion on the relationship between political power and social agency more generally. The research uses qualitative data from interviews with social movement members and organisational leaders to assess the interaction between anti-mining mobilisation and external political conditions. Interviews were principally conducted with two sets of actors across two locations. Members of environmental and human-rights organisations were interviewed in Quito and rural and indigenous movement members were interviewed in the Amazonian province Zamora-Chinchipe. The following questions are used to guide the study:
How has Ecuador’s recent political transition, from Rafael Correa to Lenín Moreno, affected the political opportunity structure of anti-mining movements?
1) How do diverging valuations of nature, and understandings of development, contribute to mining conflicts in Ecuador and how has the political transition affected the framing of the concept Buen Vivir?
2) How has the political opportunity for anti-mining movements been re-structured by the Moreno administration?
3) How have the mobilising structures of anti-mining movements been affected by Moreno’s administration?
To present the findings of the study in a coherent way, the research has been structured into seven chapters. The first chapter provides the theoretical and analytical framework for the study. It elaborates on social movement theories with a particular focus on the dimensions of political opportunity structure (POS) that will be applied to this study. Chapter two presents
the background to the research and uses the existing academic literature on Correa’s administration to establish an outline of the POS during his regime. The third chapter introduces the research location and the methodological approach taken to the study. The following three chapters present the empirical findings and correspond to the three sub questions above. The first part of chapter four focuses on how state and social movement actors value nature and understand development to assess how mining conflicts can be understood as ideological dissonance. Whereas the second part centres around the framing of Buen Vivir and the political process the concept was subjected to under Correa’s extractive model. The next chapter takes a state-centric approach and analyses the political structure of Moreno’s government. It does this by examining the legal-institutional framework of the state and the openness of the state to social pressure. In the sixth chapter the mobilising structures of anti-mining movements under Moreno’s administration are addressed. Explicit attention is paid to two aspects of mobilisation; perception of opportunity and collaborative networks. The final chapter summarises the findings to answer the overarching research question and discusses the theoretical implications of the findings.
Chapter 1
State-Society Relations and Contentious Development
“Where there is power, there is resistance” -Michel Foucault, 1978
i) Introduction
The contemporary socio-political climate in Ecuador offers a fascinating milieu in which to explore the dynamics between political power and social agency. Lenin Moreno’s departure from Correa’s style of politics, or ‘Correísmo’, has provided an opportunity for the re-articulation of the relationship between social movements and the state. The aim of this chapter is to provide a theoretical and analytical lens to examine this complex process and evaluate abstract dimensions of state structure and social movement mobilisation. In identifying core concepts, their parameters can be defined for the purposes of this study to create more tangible elements of analysis. The first section focuses on different theoretical approaches to social movements with a focus on the POS approach embedded within New Social Movement (NSM) theory. The following section looks at understandings of development and how diverse valuations of nature lead to divergent and contentious conceptualisations of the term. The indigenous concept of Buen Vivir is then addressed in greater deal as an alternative to western development models and its unique envisioning of human-nature relationship. Finally, a conceptual scheme and operationalisation table will be presented to visually represent the paper’s analytical concepts and their indicators as applied in this research.
ii) New Social Movements
The nascent extractive sector in most Latin American nations over the past two decades has been met by an equally growing resistance to mining on the continent that authors include in the NSM literature. Otherwise known as the identity-based approach to social movements, NSM theory expanded on traditional social movement thinking and encapsulates the more prominent identity characteristics of Ecuador’s anti-mining front. Until the emergence of NSM perspectives, social movement theory was still relatively restricted to viewing conflicts in capitalist societies as ‘revolving around the fundamental Marxist contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat’ (Edelman, 2001: 288). This framework was of little use in understanding many of the movements that arose during the 1960s that ‘frequently had largely
middle-class leadership and multiclass constituencies’ (ibid.). For Touraine (1988), NSMs have two main components. He argues that in post-industrial society, Marxist conflict somewhat subsides and other social issues become more salient (1988: 25). The second element of his thinking was the notion of ‘the actor’ as the main protagonist in social movements (Edelman, 2001: 288). Whereby new identities are generated around ‘the setting of a way of life, forms of behaviour, and needs’ (Touraine, 1988: 25). Following Habermas (1984) these movements are therefore a rejection of ‘colonisation’ and control of people's lifeworlds – their domains of everyday, meaningful practice (Conde, 2017: 82). Whereas for Edelman (2001), NSMs are a response to neoliberal policies and reform which threaten these ‘lifeworlds’. As such, some scholars (Stahler-Sholk et al., 2007; Urkidi, 2010). have argued that movements against resource extraction are NSMs because they are driven by the ‘same rejection of neoliberal intervention and the precariousness that emerges from it’ (Conde, 2017: 82).
Environmental social movements, while considered by many to be typical NSMs due to their post-materialist values, still generate conflict in the literature amongst proponents of the identity-based approach. For political ecologists like Martinez-Alier, environmental activism emerges from struggles of the poor and the indigenous for their own survival, as they try to preserve ecological necessities such as energy, water and other materials (Martinez-Alier, 2003). Poor communities therefore react to the ‘disproportionate use of environmental resources by the rich and powerful that threatens their livelihood, health, culture and autonomy’ (Conde, 2017: 82). In contrast to capitalist state actors and advocates of free-market economics, resources are valued differently by these communities who depend on them for life. It follows that these marginalised communities will be affected more severely by the ecological impacts of extractive projects because their lives centre around the resources that are being exploited. Martinez-Alier (2001) therefore comprehends environmental conflicts as being based upon the ‘discrepancy and incommensurability of different standards of valuation’ of natural resources and the ecosystem (Van Teijlingen, 2012: 27).
Environmental movements in Latin America are often intrinsically linked to notions of cultural identity due to the presence of strong indigenous cultures and community throughout the continent, especially prevalent in the Andes and Amazon regions. For other authors however, environmental movements are not limited to claims of cultural rights, threats to rural livelihoods or land rights, but are established through post-materialist interests. Inglehart (1977) argued that only when basic necessities are covered could people be concerned about
immaterial issues like ‘the environment’ (Conde, 2017: 82). This is in line with Melucci’s (1996) analysis of NSMs. As Melucci elucidates, affluence and urbanisation produced an appreciation and need for natural amenities (1996: 165). He suggested that contemporary environmental movements are the offspring of a "new intellectual-political elite" living in a ‘gilded but marginalising ghetto’ (ibid.). For these authors therefore, interests of urban middle-class citizens constitute a defining feature of environmental movements.
In relation to both of these perspectives on identity, anti-mining movements in Ecuador blur this dichotomous line of analysis. Anti-mining activism is composed of both localised rural and indigenous movements in proximity to mining projects and formal environmental and human-rights organisations, predominantly based in Quito. The anti-mining front is therefore comprised of both rural-indigenous and urban low to middle-class perspectives. This is in part due to the economic conditions and class composition of Ecuador. As a developing country, Ecuador has a limited middle-class. For Biekart (2005), members of social movements are mainly peasants, workers, indigenous peoples, the landless, students and the unemployed. While European NSMs are principally composed of the educated middle-class, Ecuador’s social movements are arguably less homogenous, with many middle-class activists also having indigenous heritage (Offe, 1985).
The Confederation of Ecuadorian Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE) further defy this identity distinction. As a formal organisational structure with representatives from each indigenous nationality in the country, the movement does not comply to homogenous social group or post-material values of traditional NSMs. In addition, the CONAIE work in close collaboration with non-indigenous anti-mining groups to organise social mobilisations. As such, Zamosc argues that ‘indigenous struggles in Latin America falsify the basic tenets of new social movements’ (2007: 28). Therefore, while an identity-based approach offers insights into the emergence of NSMs when collective identity is a clearly defined factor for mobilisation, it lacks theoretical relevance to Ecuador’s heterogenous anti-mining sector. Following Laclau and Mouffe’s (1985) conception of social movements, group identity is not fixed in this case, but is ultimately constructed in the process of mobilisation (Florentin, 2016: 74). Collective action and political participation therefore serve to delimit notions of collective identity across Ecuador’s anti-mining front.
a. Resource-Mobilisation Approach
Another approach to social movements is resource-mobilisation (RM) theory. RM emphasises organisational resources as the key factor for evoking social mobilisation. The pertinent resources to inducing collective action can be summarised as opportunities, strategies and the participation of individual actors (Florentin, 2016: 77). The paradigm therefore places a heavy stress on the leadership of social movements to effectively co-ordinate these resources and ‘channel discontent into organisational forms’ (Edelman, 2001: 289). RM therefore tends to focus on large, resource-rich organisations (ibid.). Resource availability and organisational strategy become the central foci rather than identity bases of social conflict, as presented by Touraine, or labour-capital conflicts, as in Marxist approaches (Edelman, 2001: 289). RM conceives movements as politically driven and goal-oriented, with the State seen as their main target (Florentin, 2016: 77). As such, achievement of political objectives by the group are seen as central in determining the success of failure of social movements in an RM approach. In highlighting the importance of resources in manifesting collective action, the RM paradigm tends to neglect situations in which poorly equipped, or severely repressed, social movements emerge (Edelman, 2001). For its critics, the politically-orientated paradigm leads to a disregard of important issues in relation to the ‘broader process of cultural transformation’, which is central to identity-based approaches (Edelman, 2001: 290). As such, the paradigm often underestimates cultural and contextual conditions. As such, there are important aspects of social movements that are not encompasses within an RM approach. While this research is concerned with the efficacy of collective mobilisation for political outcomes, it is also stimulated by examining social movement engagement within the public sphere and the formation of collaborative networks between the various anti-mining movements.
b. Political Opportunity Structure
The POS approach within NSM theory attempts to overcome the limitations of the previous two approaches by connecting collective action to political processes more explicitly. Analysts generally refer to the world outside the social movement as the ‘structure of political opportunities' (Meyer, 2004: 1459). Tarrow (1994) offers a succinct definition:
consistent - but not necessarily formal or permanent - dimensions of the political environment that provide incentives for people to undertake collective action by affecting their expectations for success or failure (1994: 85).
The main assumption for POS is that development of social movements is not the same due to diverse contextual conditions. Their organisational features, action repertoires and impacts are determined by the political conditions in their respective countries:
For instance, a government which is very susceptible to the demands of the environmental movement will generate a different (that is, more moderate) action repertoire than a government turning a deaf ear to movement demands (Van Der Heijden, 1997: 27).
For Tarrow (1998), the POS approach examines ‘movement strategizing in the context of the balance of reform-threats for challengers and facilitation-repression by authorities’. For Koopmans (1999) these are defined as follows:
Authorities may be expected either to apply sanctions that increase the costs of collective action, —repression—or to reward collective action, for instance by providing resources or moral support—facilitation (1999: 103).
This is pertinent to the Ecuadorian context of the study, which is underpinned by the supposition that Moreno’s presidency differs sufficiently from Correa’s political agenda to affect a shift in the positionality of the state along these variables, i.e. from repression towards facilitation. The political environment under Moreno has so far shown signals of a more facilitative response in regard to collective action, with a de-criminalisation of protests, but no substantial policy changes either in the direction of the movement's aim, which POS calls reform, or in the opposite direction, called threat (ibid.).
The state-centric perspective offered by POS came under criticism for giving little attention to discursive aspects of identity and the social construction of POS within social movements themselves (Abdulhadi 1998). In response to these criticisms, a synthesising of European and American POS paradigms was undertaken to include cultural aspects (Edelman, 2001). This resulted in the emergence of three core dimensions of POS; ‘political opportunities’, ‘mobilising structures’, and ‘framing’; a category encompassing the ways in which collective identities arose, as well as the ‘discursive practices that shape participants' understandings of their condition and of possible alternatives (ibid: 291).
1. Framing
Social movement frames in Ecuador’s anti-mining movements play an important role in articulating demands, particularly for indigenous movements where collective identity is a prominent characteristic. Benford and Snow’s work was seminal in extrapolating frame analysis to social movements. Their approach builds on Goffman’s (1974) work, which sees frames as ‘schemata of interpretation’ and enables individuals to perceive and comprehend the world
around them (1974: 21). As Benford & Snow (2000) note, movement actors are increasingly viewed as ‘signifying agents’ who are ‘actively engaged in the production and maintenance of meaning’ (2000: 613). Social movement actors who interpret the world around them in similar ways attempt to condense this interpretation into what Benford & Snow call ‘collective action frames’ (2000: 614). The purpose of the framing process is intended to mobilise potential social movement participants, garner bystander support, and demobilise antagonists (Benford & Snow, 1988: 198).
The framing process in social movement theory is therefore inherently linked to notions of individual and collective identity as frames naturally include, or marginalise, potential actors. As Hunt et al. (1994) have noted, ‘not only do framing processes link individuals and groups ideologically but they proffer and embellish identities that range from collaborative to conflictual’ (1994: 185). As shall be expounded in the following section, the framing procedure in Ecuador’s anti-mining movements is particularly pertinent in constructing both meaning and identity because of the unique worldviews and cosmologies that are intimately connected to anti-mining struggles.
With the synthesising of framing processes into a POS approach, its proponents claim to focus more on the ‘broader political process that encapsulates social movements and give specific attention to cultural-historical sources of discontent, protest and mobilisation’, that are overlooked in an RM approach (Edelman, 2001: 290). The worry with this is that concept becomes ‘in danger of becoming a sponge that soaks up every aspect of the social movement environment…[which] may explain nothing at all’ (Gamson & Meyer, 1996: 275). To tackle these issues, the applications of the POS approach to the context of this study must be made explicit.
2. Political Opportunity
In providing an objective assessment of external conditions for political opportunities, a key dimension for consideration is the formal institutional structure of the state and its conduciveness to the flourishing of an active network of social movements. Van Der Heijden (1997), offers a four-part conceptualisation for this dimension within a POS approach: i) the degree of vertical territorial decentralisation; ii) the horizontal concentration of state power; iii) the nature of the electoral system; iv) the availability of direct-democratic procedures (1997: 28). While this is a comprehensive system of institutional analysis, the purposes and context of
the study do not permit the consideration of all four elements. Instead, the study takes two of these elements for consideration; horizontal concentration of state power and the availability of direct-democratic procedures. In focusing on the transitional period after Moreno’s electoral victory in May 2017 substantive changes in either the electoral system or territorial decentralisation have not occurred to warrant analysis.
To overcome this, the dimension of ‘openness’ has also been incorporated into analysis of political opportunity under Moreno. The first explicit use of a POS model was conducted by Eisinger's (1973) in an effort to explain why some American cities witnessed extensive riots during the late 1960s. He focused on the openness of urban governments to more conventional means of participation to redress grievances (Meyer, 2004: 1459). Since Eisinger’s study, openness in POS has extended to include state attitudes to collective action as well as the openness of state policy to adapt to social movement demands (Meyer, 2004). These are the two dimensions of openness that this study focuses on; Moreno’s attitude to protests, marches and petitions, as well as his willingness to make concessions to the demands of anti-mining movements.
While POS emerged as a multi-dimensional analysis of state-centric conditions, its framework has expanded to encompass more nuanced aspects of social movement mobilisation, including collaborative networks and collective framing. These additions overcome the inherent shortcomings of other NSM approaches and offer beneficial applications for this study. While the identity-based approach provides analytical tools for the emergence of social movements, it neglects cases similar to Ecuador’s anti-mining front, whereby social movements are already consolidated and do not conform to a homogenous collective identity. In focusing on political outcomes of social mobilisations, RM approach tends to overlook the broader cultural and social processes behind mobilisations that this study seeks to integrate. The POS approach provides a pertinent framework for the requirements of this paper in its focus on both political and social factors for mobilisation. Moreover, POS offers comprehensive analytical tools to assess the expansion or regression of political society and better understand the complex relationship between state structures and social movement agency.
3. Mobilising Structures
One of the principle areas of interest for this study, as alluded to earlier, is the intra-organisational networks that link anti-mining movements. While disregarded by an RM
approach, POS incorporates these elements into its analysis of ‘mobilising structures’. McAdam, McCarthy and Zald (1996) made key contributes to the work on mobilisation networks. They define social movements as heterogeneous structures of networks, and their work represents an attempt to link micro and macro processes of mobilisation (Florentin, 2016: 78). Micro-mobilisation assesses the interconnections established between organisations to identify how these dynamics shape the orientations of social movements (ibid.). McAdam et al., labelled these relationships as ‘cell structures’ and noted their function in providing solidarity and support for more ‘direct’ forms of collective action, or macro-mobilisation (ibid.). As developed by Diani (2003) networks provide solidarity through their important role in circulating resources and meaning across interrelated social movements:
Networks undoubtedly facilitate mechanisms like the mobilisation of allocation of resources across an organisation field, the negotiation of agreed goals, the production and circulation of information…at the same time they also…facilitate the circulation of meaning and mutual recognition (Diani, 2003: 10).
Networks therefore play a fundamental role in the process of defining the boundaries of organisational structures through common interests and identities. The integration of micro-mobilisations through collaborative networks therefore serves to overcome the limited single-organisational analysis of both the identity-based and RM approaches. Moreover, while these approaches offer a robust framework to explain the emergence of social movements, they lack analytical depth to examine pre-existing organisations and their opportunities for integrated action once established within a network bound by similar goals and interests.
A second central element for this study encapsulated within mobilising structures concerns the perception of opportunity amongst social movement participants. Kurzman, offers a definition of perceived opportunities as ‘social movement awareness of opportunities for successful protest activity’ (Kurzman, 1996: 153). As Gamson & Meyer (1996) suggest, the framing of political opportunity within social movements is a ‘central component of collective action frames’ and signifies that an opportunity to affect social change exists (1996: 285). As such, perception of political opportunity within movements can be a catalyst to mobilisation. McAdam’s (1982) analysis of African Americans during the civil rights movement demonstrates the close correlation between subjective perceptions and the structure of opportunities:
The optimism of African Americans in the 1930s and early 1960s reflected structural shifts in Federal policies. Conversely, in the late 1960s, perceptions of diminishing opportunities reflected the actual diminishing of opportunities (Kurzman, 1996: 154).
More recent studies have compounded these findings. Kurzman’s (1996) study on the Iranian revolution in the 1970s went one step further by suggesting that perception of political opportunities may be more important in inducing mobilisation than the actual objective conditions of political structure. Kurzman found that while Iranian state structure had not become more facilitative to collective action, the catalyst for public mobilisation was based on the perception that they had. These studies therefore point to the significance of perception as a factor in social movement activity. For these authors, while the political system can be more or less open to challenge at different times, it is the perception of this ‘openness’ that actually translates into protest (McAdam, 1982: 41).
In Ecuador, the context of a new political administration following a repressive regime, an expected re-articulation of social movement perception of political opportunity, and capacity for mobilisation, may occur. Following this, perception of opportunities is incorporated into the operationalisation that guides the study and assessments regarding its correlation to the objective structure of political opportunity under Moreno’s administration will be made.
iii) Nature and Contentious Development
Exploring the framing process for anti-mining movements in Ecuador is a fundamental tool to understand not just how identity is forged within these social movements, but also provides valuable insights into how state and social actors apply meaning to concepts of development and nature. Development discourses that emerged after World War II have conceptualised society-nature relationship in diverging ways causing ideological contention through their practical application in development models, as is the case with mining in Ecuador.
a) Modernisation & Neoliberal Paradigms
The leading development paradigm in the 1950s and 1960s, modernisation theory, gives precedence to European and North-American ideals of progress and knowledge production (van Teijlingen, 2012: 30). In doing so, it prescribes a linear path to modernisation for ‘underdeveloped’ countries to follow and emphasises human capacity to control nature through the use of technology (Peet & Hartwick, 2015). The neoliberal development paradigm that gained popularity during the 1980s enshrined the supremacy of capitalist private sector and free market forces in fostering development. This model was espoused by the World Bank and IMF, the world’s dominant lending organisations, who ‘condition the release of external financial aid and loans on the adoption of neoliberal policies by national governments to favour
greater freedom of market forces’ (Miraftab, 2004: 90). For this model therefore, economic growth and rise in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are the predominant indicators for development and allow for the exploitation of natural resources for their achievement. Society-nature relations are governed by free market forces with a disregard for environmental impacts and non-renewable resource depletion. As Himley (2008) notes, commodification and privatisation of public assets have been signalling features of the neoliberal project to open up new fields for capital accumulation (2008: 35). He links this to colonial processes of appropriation of assets including land and natural resources (ibid.). Although distinct in their approach, it can be argued that neoliberal paradigms of development naturally progressed from modernisation approaches and share their linear progression line for development, imperial knowledge rationale and human controllability of natural resources. As such, these classical development models have been the subject to heavy critique and stimulated a flourishing of alternative conceptualisations of development that rethought human-nature dualism.
b) Human & Sustainable Development
Two of the most prominent counter-discourses to emerge were the notion of human development and sustainable development. For proponents of human development, it represents ‘human flourishing in its fullest sense - in matters public and private, economic and social and political and spiritual’ (Alkire, 2002: 182). With this approach therefore, we see a marked distinction in its move away from a focus of macro-economic growth and a concern for issues of wellbeing and happiness. For Sen (1999) however, the approach goes further than just the achievement of wellbeing, and he also considers the realisation of human agency as imperative - how human beings are able to follow the causes they care about and how they are able to interact with society and nature around them (ibid.). The human development approach therefore recognises an ‘obligation to care for the natural environment’ as well as considering the freedoms of poor marginalised communities, genders and ethnicities (ibid.) Whereas sustainable development discourse ‘emerged as an attempt to reconcile growth and preservation of nature’ and therefore concentrates more on environmental impacts of development (van Teijlingen, 2012: 30).
Interestingly, multiple authors have argued that discursive elements of both sustainable and human development have been subsumed by neo-liberal approaches. For Gupta et al. (2015), the global recession exacerbated the trend in politics to adopt environmental trade-offs in favour of a focus on growth and employment (2015: 544). Therefore, while outwardly
promoting an environmentally friendly discourse, neoliberal state’s employ a sustainable discourse as a ‘countervailing strategy to pre-empt trade-offs in favour of the economy at the cost of society and the environment’ (ibid.). This process led to emergence of terms such as ‘green economy’ and ‘green growth’. Whitmore (2006) highlights how the concept of sustainable development was adapted by the transnational mining sector to promote ‘sustainable mining’. Whereas Van Teijlingen & Hogenboom (2016) relate this idea specifically to Ecuador through Correa’s implementation of ‘resource nationalism’ discourse to promote ‘responsible mining’ and an extractive development model.
In the last decade, cosmologies from the global South have been articulated as alternatives to classical development theories, such as Buen Vivir (BV) from the Andes and Ubuntu from Sub-Saharan Africa (van Teijlingen, 2012: 31). These cosmologies build on elements from both human and sustainable development and are rooted in the regional indigenous communities ‘which resisted colonial regimes and capitalist exploitation’ (ibid.). While these cosmologies are diverse, they share a unique conceptualisation of the human condition in harmony with nature. Correa enshrining the principles of BV into his 2008 Constitution as a ‘guiding principle for development’, has been the source of severe contention with anti-mining movements who see mining expansion into Ecuador’s indigenous territories as an abuse to the concept’s values (ibid.).
c) Buen Vivir
The concept originally received widespread attention in Ecuador as Sumak Kawsay, from the indigenous kichwa language meaning fullness of life in a community (Gudynas, 2011: 442). It includes critical reactions to classical development models that emerged from indigenous worldviews and ‘explores possibilities beyond the modern Eurocentric tradition’ (ibid: 441). For some authors, BV therefore represents a response to the ‘crisis in development’, whereby neoliberal paradigms failed to address economic inequality and environmental damages which caused widespread disaffection amongst marginalised actors (Villalba, 2013: 1427). In line with human and sustainable development approaches, BV ideology rejects economic growth as the main objective of development and condemns human’s exploitative relationship with natural resources. However, the concept goes further than its predecessors in terms of rethinking human-nature relationship.
The notion of community within BV thought is based on indigenous cosmovision and is expanded to include nature. Community is conceived of as a unit of life made up of all forms of existence; not just a social structure made up of humans only (ibid:1430). Therefore, a sense of community for BV implies living together with Pachamama (Mother Earth) and thus recognises an explicit ‘interconnectedness of life’ (ibid.). Villalba (2013) articulates the representation of nature in BV:
It is the vision of an organic, living, spiritual universe, worthy of respect, as opposed to viewing the world as a machine, or nature as a series of resources to be exploited (2013: 1433).
BV thinking therefore ‘promotes the dissolution of society-nature dualism’ whereby nature becomes part of the social world (Gudynas, 2009: 445). The western notion of humans as external to nature is discarded.
Another core element of BV cosmology is its direct democratic principles. BV is rooted in the practice of indigenous ‘consensus in community decision making’ (Villalba, 2013: 1431). As such BV thinking requires participatory and deliberative democracy ‘based on the constant participation of people in the public life of the country’ (SENPLADES, 2013: 24). This therefore highlights a mismatch between Ecuador’s western-style political framework and indigenous self-government as conceived under BV. To simply vote sporadically within an election-based democratic framework is not sufficient for BV conceptualisations, but may represent the most realistic alternative.
In sum, BV is a foremost a decolonial development approach that advocates nature-society dualism, democratisation of the state and a total rejection of resource commodification, capital accumulation and linear notions of development. The theoretical basis of BV is important in analysing the framing of state and social actors over extractive policy in Ecuador and can be utilised to better understand anti-mining discourses as well as the articulating of collective identity through mobilising action frames.
iv) Conceptual Scheme
The above conceptual scheme encompasses the discussed dimensions of POS to be applied to the research. It highlights the relationship between the top-down processes of the state, political opportunity, as well as bottom-up processes of social movements, mobilising structures. As collective action frames are applied by both sets of actors to legitimise actions promoting or opposing mining, this process is present in both directions. As shown in the below operationalisation table, the analysis of framing centres around how state and social actors understand and use the concept of BV. This will help gain an appreciation of how both sets of actors apply meanings to a concept and if/how these meanings are integrated into the formation of collective action frames.
Institutions Openness
Perception Framing
Framing
Networks
Within political opportunity, ‘institutions’ relates to the structure of the state’s legal framework and its conduciveness to the facilitation or repression of social movements. ‘Openness’ is split into two components; attitude of the state towards forms of collective action, and responsiveness of the state to anti-mining demands. In regards to mobilising structures, ‘perception’ also has a dichotomous application in the study; perception of social movements to their operative democratic conditions under Moreno and perception of their opportunity for successful mobilisation. Finally, ‘networks’ examines at the formation of intra-organisational linkages and collaborations within the anti-mining front. These dimensions have been incorporated into an operationalisation table below to enable a clear representation of the study-specific indicators within their broader dimensions. For clarity, each dimension correlates to a chapter in the paper to provide a visual outline for the structure of the thesis.
v) Operationalisation
Concept Dimension Variable Indicator
Political Opportunity Structure Framing Valuation of Nature
How do state and social movement actors interact
with, and assign value to, nature?
Understanding of Development
How do state and social movement actors understand
development? Framing of Buen
Vivir Vivir defined and contested? How is the concept of Buen
Political Opportunities
State Framework
Is the legal-institutional structure of the state conducive to the repression
or facilitation of social movements?
Openness to Mobilisation
What is the attitude of the state towards social mobilisation in the form of protests, marches, petitions
etc.? Openness of
Demands
How responsive is the state to demands of anti-mining
movements? Does this represent reform or threat?
Mobilising Structures
Perception of Democratic
Conditions
How do social movements perceive the current democratic conditions in
Ecuador? Perception of
Opportunity
How do social movements perceive their opportunities for successful protest activity? Collaborative
Networks
What level of networking and information sharing between
anti-mining movements exists?
Chapter 2
The Political Opportunity Structure of Correa’s ‘Citizens’ Revolution’
‘It is absurd that some want to force us to remain like beggars sitting atop a bag of gold’ -Rafael Correa, 2009
i) Introduction
The dynamics of socio-political tensions in contemporary Ecuador can be attributed to the significant transformations in its recent political history. This chapter provides the background to the study by examining the socio-political conditions in Ecuador before and during Correa’s presidency. It follows a chronological timeline to look at key interactions between Correa’s government and social movements. This will allow for an outline of the political opportunity structure for anti-mining movements under Correa’s administration and establish a foundation for comparative analysis with Moreno’s administration and political structures. While the current literature focuses on the institutional framework and extractive model established by Correa during his Citizens’ Revolution, it fails to regard their implications for the public sphere, an issue that this section will address. While the chapter is structured chronologically, it incorporates the relevant literature to expand on the main facets of political opportunity structure in the following ways.
Firstly, it seeks to lay the context of contemporary social movements in Ecuador by providing the socio-political background of the country. This is done in analysing the neo-liberal reforms which engulfed Ecuador and most of Latin America during the end of the 20th Century. The linkages between neo-liberal ideology and the rise of Ecuador’s social movements shall be explored under the pretext of the expanded civic space during the 1990s. Next, the ideologies behind Correa’s rise to presidency and political structures established under his Citizen’s Revolution will be assessed. This is followed by the ramifications of Correa’s legal-institutional framework on social movement mobilising as well as its applications in promoting extractivism as the central facet of Ecuador’s development. Using Van Teijlingen’s (2016) work on Correa’s discourse and use of state apparatus, the framing surrounding the state’s extractive policy will be analysed in the following section. Finally, Correa’s explicit criminalisation and repression of anti-mining protest activity is examined before an overview of Moreno’s rise to presidency.
ii) 1990s: Neoliberal Turn, Political Unrest & Economic Crisis
Ecuador’s politics in the 1990s was marked by social, economic and political turmoil; widespread poverty and corrupt politicians led to public protest, street riots and military intervention. Authors studying the region attribute much of this upheaval to the country’s immersion into the ‘neoliberal global order’ (Mignolo, 2005). As Harvey (2005) explains:
…neoliberalism is…a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterised by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade (2005: 2).
For Molyneux (2008) the neoliberal turn in Latin America was characterised by two distinct phases; ‘market fundamentalism’ and ‘reactive neoliberalism’. The first phase began in the 1970s and was dominated by structural adjustments attached to loans, the retreat of the State, privatisations of public assets and social austerity measures (Florentin, 2016: 44-45). In Ecuador, this period was marked by the privatisation of the Ecuadorian Petroleum State Corporation (which became Petroecuador in 1989), huge increases in national debt and intensifying levels of poverty (ibid.). By the end of the 1990s, Ecuadorian national debt went from US$324 million to US$8.4 billion (Davidov, 2012: 13) and seventy per cent of Ecuadorians lived below the poverty line (Postero and Zamosc, 2004).
The World Bank’s poverty assessment in 1995 discovered a strong correlation between being indigenous and being poor in Ecuador (Van Nieuwkoop and Uquillas, 2000: 5). According to Florentin (2016), this led to an increased awareness of the impacts of economic policy on different social groups and triggered the second phase of Molyneux’s neoliberal turn, ‘reactive neoliberalism’. As he describes:
If in the 1980s policy attention focused on ‘getting the economy right’, in the 1990s there were attempts to attend to the hitherto neglected social realm and to build appropriate institutions, all in a context of ever-deepening inequality (2008: 780).
Various aspects of social inequality came under scrutiny during this period when notions of inclusion, participation, empowerment and identity emerged in correspondence to a burgeoning civil society (Andolina et al., 2009; Bebbington, 1997). The emergence of these new discourses contributed to growing social tensions in Ecuador and, at the same time, the country became synonymous with political unrest. Between 1997 and 2005, three elected presidents were forced to leave office early when political crises and street protests handed Congress the military pretexts for unseating them (Conaghan, 2008: 48). These political issues were exacerbated by the economic crisis of 1999-2000 which occurred during Molyneux’s phase of
‘reactive neoliberalism’. As noted by Conaghan, the freeze on bank deposits in 1999 and the subsequent dollarisation of the economy in 2000 further deepened the public's resentment of politicians (2008: 49).
iii) The Rise of Ecuador’s Indigenous & Environmental Movements
While Ecuador’s neoliberal transformation created enormous economic pressures in the country at both state and society levels, some authors also positively attribute neoliberalism as conducive to the development of new civic space throughout Latin America. Lucero’s (2009) work highlights the impact of neoliberal policies on the political organisation of indigenous movements in this period. Lucero notes that, ‘the responses of Indigenous people to neoliberal projects have been complex and varied’ (2009: 66), whereby neoliberalism has simultaneously threatened and provided opportunities for the reformulation of indigenous demands (Florentin, 2016: 46). The rise of one of the continent’s most active indigenous movements, the CONAIE, highlighted the emergence of identity-based civil mobilisations and their ability to engage with the political sphere in Ecuador. CONAIE became the main antagonists of neo-liberalism in the country. In 1990 the organisation led a nine-day nationwide uprising, blocking roads and cutting food supplies to the main cities (Florentin, 2016: 47). The demands articulated by the movement were centred around the recognition of a plurinational state, agrarian reform and cultural rights (ibid.). The 1990 protest was not a solitary event and was followed by similar roadblocks and marches in 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2001 (Van Cott, 2005). For Becker, these mobilisations ‘represented the emergence of indigenous peoples as one of the most powerful social-movement actors in the Americas’ (2010: 292).
The rise of the indigenous movements corresponded with the arrival of the country’s ecological groups that saw the threats posed by neo-liberal economic policies to the environment. One of the largest of these groups, Acción Ecológica, based in Quito, formed in 1986 as part of the bottom-up resistance to Molyneux’s reactive neoliberalism. As established in the previous chapter, these groups constitute the broader trend of NSMs that emerged on the continent and are characterised by post-materialist values and identity-based approaches. The inclusion of NSM perspectives was common in major movements in Latin America that focused on ‘human rights, democratisation, indigenous and minority peoples, urban poor and street children as key dimensions of collective action’ (Edelman, 2001: 294). As such, these movements identified with indigenous valuations of nature, their demands for cultural protection and worked
intimately with indigenous localities to voice their demands in the struggle against neo-liberal reform and environmental damages.
iv) Correa’s ‘Citizens’ Revolution’
The main protagonist of the Ecuador’s contentious relations between civil and political society however is undoubtedly its populist ex-president Rafael Correa. Aware of the increasingly powerful role of the nation’s leftist movements led by CONAIE, Correa appealed to anti-neoliberal sentiments to garner their support. In 2006 Correa won the presidential election in Ecuador under the promise of a ‘Citizens’ Revolution’ and ‘to end the long dark night of neoliberalism’ (noche neoliberal) (Lalander, 2016: 624). As the anti-establishment outsider backed by his organisation Alianza Pais (AP) he vowed to revitalise state institutions, transform the national development model and eradicate poverty through post-neoliberal policies (van Teijlingen, 2016: 904). Taking advantage of severely low levels of public trust in the partidocracia (partyarchy), a corrupt system of elitist democracy instituted since the 1978 constitution, Correa’s ambition and charisma won him huge public support, including from indigenous and environmental groups (Ortiz, 2015: 31). As Ortiz notes, Correa’s discourse to garner public support was centred around these two ‘ambiguous signifiers’: partidocracia, and noche neoliberal (Ortiz, 2015: 31). Social movements therefore publicly supported Correa’s progressive vision for a new constitution based on social justice and environmental concerns.
During the discussions to formulate the new constitution, the government paid special attention to legitimising its political project through the use of social movement, and particularly indigenous, discourse. This included the aspirations for: a ‘national plural state’ via recognition of the diverse ethnic groups in Ecuador as nationalities; participatory democracy; protection of strategic resources (e.g., water, forest, and farmland) and the requirement of permission from communities to extract resources from indigenous territories (Ortiz, 2015: 32). As numerous authors have argued (Gamson, 1998; Laclau, 2005; Breton, 2013; Ortiz, 2015), in order to garner support from these influential social groups, Correa’s government employed sophisticated discursive techniques that appeared to meet these demands, but only did so superficially. Core debates on the issues above were broken into 'cultural packages,' delivered through slogans (Gamson, 1998). As Ortiz explains, the demand for a 'national plural state' was included in the new constitution, but the basic language was not accompanied by an adequate definition of what this concept meant and was deliberately ambiguous (2016: 33). In fact, a year after the constitution was implemented, Correa accused CONAIE of not understanding the
'real meaning' of 'national plural state' during a confrontation (El Tiempo, 4th March, 2010). Both Breton (2013) and van Teijlingen (2016) have speculated that the constitution included core concepts of the indigenous worldview such as sumak kawsay, in order to create a domination framing (Ortiz, 2015: 33). Following these strategies, the vast majority of social movements supported Correa’s cause.
This was demonstrated in April 2007, when Correa's proposal to call elections for a constituent assembly charged with writing the new constitution won with 82 percent of the vote in a national referendum (Conaghan, 2008: 46). Correa’s power was consolidated only a few months later when the electorate rewarded his party with 80 seats in the 130-member constituent assembly (ibid.). In Ecuador’s historically fractious and unstable political landscape, this overwhelming support was unprecedented, and Correa now wielded the power to write the constitution on his terms. The radical 2008 constitution gained international attention for defining Ecuador as a plurinational state, granting inalienable rights to nature and its adoption of BV principles (Van Teijlingen, 2016). As explained by Conaghan, additional presidential powers were also layered into the new constitution. The most significant of these was the drop of the 1998 version’s ban on consecutive re-election for the president, meaning that Correa was no longer limited to the usual four-year term (Conaghan, 2016: 112). Additionally, to ensure that the new constitution would fulfil its transformative potential and establish state’s central role over management of the national economy, Correa insisted that the assembly should be invested with ‘full powers’ to overrule and replace all existing institutions (Conaghan, 2008: 48).
v) Structuring Civil Society’s 'fields of action'
As proposed in the literature, in order to be consistent with the emancipatory demands of social movements during his regime, Correa created a mirage of participatory democracy through a complex institutional-legal framework (Ortiz, 2015; Conaghan 2008, 2016). A Council for Civil Participation and Social Accountability (CPCCS) was created and assigned to promote civil participation and coordinate the regulation of social accountability (Ortiz, 2015: 34). However, this institutional machinery actually inhibited civil participation. As Ortiz (2015) contends, the notion of participatory democracy was used to justify a heavy restructuring of Ecuador’s public sphere and the disciplining of critical civil society. To make these new institutions function, the creation of a ‘Civil Participation Law’ (Ley Orgánica de Participación Ciudadana) was required (ibid.). In order for the creation of the law to be perceived as part of the participative process,
the legislative branch proposed meetings with citizens to discuss its main points. However, neither indigenous leaders nor members of critical civil organisations were invited to the discussions. Assemblyman Carlos Pilamunga later said they were deliberately excluded from the meetings (Ortiz, 2015: 35). The outcome of these discussions resulted in a tenuous form of social participation under the direct control of political representatives.
Correa’s strategies towards the indigenous movements in general were aimed at destabilising their organisation and dividing its members. Correa admitted in a 2012 interview that his strategy concerning CONAIE was to bypass its leaders and establish direct ties to its middle ranks and broad membership (De La Torre, 2014: 2001). The government also revived parallel indigenous organisation, the Federation of Ecuadorian Indians (FEI), as well rallying leaders of smaller indigenous groups that had historic rivalries with CONAIE (ibid.). As De la Torre notes, this defines Correa’s attitude towards the country’s indigenous movements:
Correa even brought the Afro-Ecuadorian movement into his camp. He thinks of indigenous and other poor Ecuadorians not as autonomous actors but rather as beneficiaries of state redistribution (De La Torre, 2014: 2001).
Correa’s institutional framework therefore served to limit the political power of marginalised indigenous groups and facilitate the state’s total control of redistributive economic policies. As maintained by Foucault, the critical role of civil society can be counteracted if the political subsystem delimits its 'possible fields of action' (Foucault, 1988). Correa’s mirage of participatory democracy as championed in his Citizen’s Revolution had succeeded in ostracising social movements and severely limiting their scope as agents of change.
vi) Mining Law and Neo-extractivism
While lauded by the Correa administration as a historic achievement for participatory democracy, the new constitution simultaneously increased the role of the State and declared natural resource extraction to be a ‘strategic sector’ of the economy, over which the State holds ‘exclusive decision-making and control’ (Van Teijlingen, 2016: 904). During the Constituent Assembly, the matter of large-scale mining was one of the most contentious issues and its affirmation in the constitution created enormous tensions between the Correa administration and the coalition of anti-mining organisations and indigenous movements (Riofrancos, 2014). Article 408 of the constitution declared non-renewable natural resources as ‘the unalienable property of the State, immune from seizure and not subject to a statute of limitations’. The constitution embedded the framework for Ecuador to become a pro-mining country in
Article 93 entitled ‘Royalties for the exploitation of minerals’, states that Ecuador’s government must receive at least 51 percent of the rent with five percent of the sales of extracted resources. Of which, ‘60% of the royalty shall be allocated for social investment programmes, which shall prioritise outstanding basic needs’ (2008 Constitution, Article 93). The constitution therefore laid the basis for what scholars have labelled ‘neo-extractivism’.
Neo-extractivism has seen a burgeoning scholarly literature over the past decade and has been used to describe the kind of extraction undertaken by progressive governments of Latin America. The key distinguishers of neo-extractivism are: (i) the greater role of the state directly and indirectly in fostering extractivist activities, and (ii) a greater legitimacy of it due to the promotion of redistributive social policies (Gudynas, 2009). As Hogenboom (2012) highlights, this increased state capability through the extractive sector ranges from mining nationalisation to increased regulatory powers, taxes and royalties. Many authors (Acosta, 2013; Arsel et al., 2016; Bebbington, 2009; Van Teijlingen & Hogenboom, 2016) highlight the contradictions inherent in Ecuador’s extractive regime and Correa’s post-neoliberal declarations whereby the country is unable to establish a new development model that would untangle them from dependency on western export capitalism. Acosta (2013) calls this the ‘great paradox’. Ecuador is very rich in natural resources, and receives significant revenue, but has not managed to lay the foundations for its own development and therefore continues to rely on mining with no diversification of the economy (Acosta, 2013: 71). Arsel et al., advance this notion as ‘the extractive imperative’, whereby extractive activities are central to the development model of a commodity-led export economy and need to take place ‘at all costs’ (2016: 878). While the new constitution alluded to Correa’s prioritisation of the extractive sector, this was cemented only two months later with the proposal of a new national mining bill.
The bill intensified the nascent conflict between Correa’s administration and anti-mining social movements considerably. The approved document emphasised Correa’s convictions over mining as the central facet to future development models while undermining indigenous rights to oppose mining concessions on their territories. Under the Mining Bill, the state did not require full prior consent from indigenous people residing on land where natural resources were to be extracted, but they must only be ‘consulted’ (Dosh & Kligerman, 2009). As such, the bill ultimately gave the state the final say in deciding where to pursue mineral extraction:
In the event, following a consultation process, there is a majority opposition within the respective community, the decision regarding whether or not to develop the project shall be
