Paul Dosh

Correa vs. Social Movements: Showdown in Ecuador

O n september 28, 2008, 64% of voters in Ecuador approved a progressive new constitution, launching a new political era in the country. For more than a year leading up to the vote, Ecuador had been gripped with “constitution fever,” as thousands of people lobbied the Constituent Assembly’s 130 delegates, who were organized into 10 thematic roundtables. The resulting document consisted of 444 articles centered on reforming Ecuador’s institutions, including several groundbreaking environmental measures touted as among the most progressive in Latin America. Yet, although the passing of the new constitution represented a moment of unity between Ecuador’s popular movements and the electoral left, these two entities have clashed recently over the question of environmental protection—showing that they are hardly 21 By Paul Dosh and nicole Kligerman

Surprising Trends in Land Invasions in Metropolitan Lima and Quito

Study of land invasion organizations in Lima and Quito reveals six surprising trends that differ by metropolitan context. Specifically, invasion organizations tend to differ with respect to building materials, original land ownership, the difficulty and consequences of acquiring land titles, strategies for acquiring electricity, and types of neighborhood regimes. A more general contrast also emerges: Lima organizations are more likely to encounter quick initial success followed by gradual decline, while the success of Quito organizations is often more gradual, resulting in long-term organizational survival. These citywide trends can be explained by three factors—public policy, local democratization, and geography and climate—that are often neglected in favor of neighborhood-level explanations.

Women's Voices on the Executive Council Popular Organizations and Resource Battles in Bolivia and Ecuador

In the 2000s, Bolivia and Ecuador were marked by battles over natural resources in which mass mobilizations challenged the neoliberal privatization of resources such as water and natural gas. In El Alto and Quito, these mobilizations boosted the public standing of women whose frontline militancy helped confront privatization and build momentum for the election of women to top leadership. Although gender discrimination persisted, women’s activism in these resource battles demonstrated to men their capacity to lead in arenas other than health, family, and education. In the wake of these conflicts, variations in women’s voice—the power to speak, set agendas, and dictate discourse—on the executive councils of popular organizations prove to be determined by societal sexism, leadership and training opportunities for women, the presence of more women on the executive council, the status of the council seats won by women, and the particular organization’s decision-making process.

Incremental Gains: Lima’s Tenacious Squatters’ Movement

TH R O U G H O U T T H E L A S T H A L F C E N T U RY, T E N S of millions of poor Latin Americans have illegally seized land. Such invasions a re usually followed by many years of stru g g l e , during which communities strive to build a functioning neighborhood with reliable serv i c e s . Some settlements eventually become attractive w o r k i n g-class neighborhoods; looking at them today you would never guess how they began. Ye t when many people picture urban Latin America, two classic images come to mind: throngs of b a rely employed street vendors packed into congested streets, and the ubiquitous shantytowns blanketing the periphery of major cities. These s t e reotypical images tell us little about the impact of the informal economy on the lives of lowincome urban dwellers. Famous for its entire districts that began as massive illegal land invasions, Peru ’s capital city, Lima, offers a window into the enduring legacy of i n f o rm a l i t y. With a population of almost 9 million, Lima is the re g i o n ’s fifth largest city and is often viewed as a sad caricature of all that is w rong with urban Latin America: sprawling, polluted, and poor.1 To both observers and re s i d e n t s , Lima seems incapable of overcoming these f u n d amental obstacles, as new poor migrants continually arrive, their needs multiplying and complicating the challenges facing government leaders.2 Yet a glance at the streets of downtown Lima makes clear that many poor Peruvians are unsatisfied with the status quo. Groups of lowand noincome protesters frequently fill the plazas outside government buildings. On a busy day, so many diff e rent organizations march on popular p rotest sites like Congress and the Pre s i d e n t i a l Palace that each group must essentially wait in line for its turn to demonstrate. Paul Dosh is assistant p rofessor of political science at Macalester College. He is writing a book about urban popular movements in Peru and Ecuador. by Paul Dosh The Unit ed Front of the Peop les of Peru demands that unjust debts be cancele d at the Ministr y of the Preside ncy in Lima.

Peace After Terror: Reconciling Justice and the Rule of Law in Argentina, E1 Salvador, and Guatemala

Paul Dosh is a doctoral candidate in the political science department at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include human rights and urban politics in Latin America. He thanks Ruth Berins Collier for many valuable suggestions and Ronald Chilcote, Richard Harris, and Heather Williams for helpful criticisms. He may be reached at pablo@ socrates.berkeley.edu. Ian Johnstone Rights and Reconciliation: UN Strategies in El Salvador. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1995. 104 pp. Susanne Jonas Of Centaurs and Doves: Guatemala’s Peace Process. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000. 299 pp.

Demanding the Land: Urban Popular Movements in Peru and Ecuador, 1990-2005

65.00 cloth,

Lessons from the Left in Lima: Susana Villarán and the Fleeting Return of Progressive Politics to City Hall

25.00 paper. Carlos Santiago Nino Radical Evil on Trial. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996. 220 pp. Margaret L. Popkin Peace Without Justice: Obstacles to Building the Rule of Law in El Salvador. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000. 287 pp.

Choosing Lima’s New Mayor amid Scandal and Transit Reform

45.00 cloth,

What Happened To Progressive Politics In Lima

18.95 paper. Rachel Sieder (ed.) Guatemala After the Peace Accords. London: Institute of Latin American Studies, 1998. 269 pp.

Lima’s Leftist Mayor Defeated by Four Years of Right-Wing Attacks

19.95 paper. Philip J. Williams and Knut Walter Militarization and Demilitarization in El Salvador’s Transition to Democracy. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997. 244 pp.