Between the movement and the political party: indigenous movements in Bolivia and Ecuador

Abstract

This paper analyzes the link between the logic of social movement and that of a political party in the case of indigenous movements in Bolivia and Ecuador. Specifically, it sought to explain why a movement capable of organizing plenty of protests, like the Ecuadorian, was unable to succeed in the electoral arena during the important 2007 elections to the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly, while the fragmented Bolivian movements achieved some success by participating in a similar electoral scenario. The author argues that the relative success of Bolivia’s indigenous movements in the electoral arena was due to a greater ability of these groups to translate the support and strength originated in the field of social protest into the realm of institutional politics, and to combine institutional and non-institutional repertoires.