Multiple Paradigms for Understanding a Mobilized Region

Abstract

Abstract The field of social movement studies in Latin America has gradually consolidated into a subdiscipline since the re-democratization of most of the region in the 1980s. The reinstatement of academic freedom, the return of some scholars from exile, and the political relevance of social movements and protests since re-democratization have put this area of research at the core of numerous studies. The question of how to understand the struggles that have defined Latin American history since independence has led to very intense theoretical debate that has developed alternative explanations for the comprehension of social movements. In Latin America, social movement studies as a subdiscipline has been characterized by a great diversity of theoretical approaches and a pragmatic combination of perspectives in empirical studies. As a general overview of the main Latin American output on social movement studies, this introductory chapter presents the contributions in this book under the five sections that structure this volume: first, the theoretical perspectives developed in or applied to social movements in Latin America; second, the main macro-dynamics and processes and the role of social movements from the mid-nineteenth to the early twenty-first century; third, a review of the main social movements in Latin America; fourth, an analysis of the ideational and strategic dimensions of movements; and fifth, an exploration of the interaction of movements with (formal and informal) institutional politics.