Rural Social Movements and the Prospects for Sustainable Rural Communities: Evidence from Bolivia

Abstract

ABSTRACT There has been a dramatic shift in the capacity of indigenous and peasant movements to challenge prevailing hyperliberal models of development and present alternatives that foster ethnocultural diversity and social justice. Following a review of Latin America's agrarian question and of alternative perspectives on sustainable development, this paper advances the concept of sustainable rural communities as an appropriate contemporary paradigm for addressing development issues. Evidence from Bolivia suggests that those rural social movements that avail themselves of changes to the political opportunity structure, including constitutional reform and decentralization, may be successful in developing genuine political capacity that could improve the prospects for sustainable rural communities.