Sumak Kawsay Research Articles

An Ontological Turn in the Debate on Buen Vivir – Sumak Kawsay in Ecuador: Ideology, Knowledge, and the Common

Buen Vivir, a political paradigm at work in Bolivia and Ecuador that underpins the state and social regeneration after a prolonged and devastating period of neoliberalism, has become a hotly contested subject within academia and politics. Although it has been categorized as decolonial, post-neoliberal, and post-developmentalist, recent developments suggest that the Ecuadorian government is turning toward a highly extractivist and modernist model based on bureaucratic and technocratic logics. This article focuses on the debate spurred around Buen Vivir, arguing that it has been employed as a cultural representation by many academics, politicians, and social agents, thus foreclosing the possibility of engaging in more grounded and pragmatic discussions and hindering the articulation of alternative political configurations. Accordingly, it seeks to shift the debate from epistemological questions about the conditions of knowledge to thinking the nature of the world ontologically from the perspective of Buen Vivir.

BUEN VIVIR, DESARROLLO Y DEPREDACIÓN NEOLIBERAL EN EL SIGLO XXI

En la última década han florecido nociones sobre sumak kawsay y suma qamaña ‘buen vivir’ en Ecuador y Bolivia, respectivamente, al calor de los procesos participativos e innovadoras de las nuevas constituciones políticas. Estas se unen con teorizaciones hechas en otras partes de América Latina, como son el lekil kuxlejal en Chiapas, y el incipiente tb’anil qanq’ib’il entre los maya-mames de Guatemala. Simultáneamente, se señala el auge de la industria extractivista, con alarmantes niveles de depredación. El artículo identifica algunos cuestionamientos del desarrollo occidental y explora las diversas nociones del buen vivir, para luego resaltar la manera en que una mina de oro a cielo abierto, en Guatemala, está destruyendo el ambiente, el tejido social, familiar y comunitario, y muchos elementos locales del buen vivir en San Miguel Ixtahuacán. Recoge las percepciones de mujeres maya-mames que resisten la mina.
 BUEN VIVIR, DEVELOPMENT AND NEOLIBERAL PILLAGE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
 The notions of sumak kawsay and suma qamaña (living well/‘buen vivir’) have flourished in the last decade in Ecuador and Bolivia, respectively, in the heat of the participatory and innovative processes brought about by the new political constitutions. These notions have joined processes of theorizing from other Latin America regions, like lekil kuxlejal in Chiapas, and incipient tb’anil qanq’ib’il among the Maya-Mam people from Guatemala. Simultaneously alarming levels of pillage have accompanied the boom of the extraction industry. This article identifies some critiques of Western development and explores different notions of living well/buen vivir to then highlight how open pit mining for gold in Guatemala is destroying the environment, the social fabric, families and communities, as well as many local elements regarding buen vivir in San Miguel Ixtahuacan. It collects perceptions from Maya-Mam women who are resisting the mine.

Democratic Constitutionalism and Constitutional Innovation in Ecuador

Since the renewal of constituent power in the 1991 Colombian constitution, various democratic constitutions in Latin American countries have undertaken important structural changes in both the organization of public powers, the democratic legitimacy of power, and the constitutional reform of rights. Among these new constitutional texts in Latin America, the 2008 Ecuadorean constitution, with sumak kawsay (living well) as its axiological basis, stands out for its originality and theoretical advances as the first case of transitional constitutionalism. All these constitutions, however, are faced with an enforcement problem that hinders their operation as instruments of social transformation. Desde la renovación del poder constituyente en la Constitución colombiana de 1991, varias constituciones democráticas en los países de América Latina han llevado a cabo importantes cambios estructurales tanto en la organización de los poderes públicos, la legitimidad democrática del poder, y la regeneración constitucional de los derechos. Entre estos nuevos textos constitucionales en América Latina, la constitución de Ecuador 2008, con el sumak kawsay (buen vivir) como su base axiológica, destaca por su originalidad y avances teóricos como el primer caso de constitucionalismo de transición. Todas estas constituciones, sin embargo, se enfrentan a un problema de aplicación que dificulta su funcionamiento como instrumentos de transformación social.

Rights of Nature and the Indigenous Peoples in Bolivia and Ecuador: A Straitjacket for Progressive Development Politics?

Is it possible to justify resource extractivism to provide progressive welfare politics and still respect the constitutional rights of nature? The Indigenous concept of Sumak Kawsay on human beings living in harmony with each other and the environment is the fundamental framing of the new constitutions of Ecuador and Bolivia. These constitutional reforms embrace strengthened proper rights of nature and similarly of ethnic rights. However, the same constitutions grant the State the right to exploit and commercialize natural resources and extractivism has increased. This study revises the tensions between welfare politics, extractivism and the rights of nature and the Indigenous peoples in the new constitutional settings of Bolivia and, particularly, Ecuador. The article argues that Sumak Kawsay challenges dominating understandings of the concepts of welfare, common good and development, and likewise that a pragmatic approach is applied by national governments towards the constitutional rights of nature amidst other human values.

Environmental policies and Pachamama in Ecuador. Theory and practice in Rafael Correa's Government (2007-2013)

The aim of this paper is to analyse the environmental policies implemented in Ecuador in the period from 2007 to 2013. According to the Ecuadorian Constitution these policies must be based on the promotion of the sumak kawsay or well-being, which promotes harmonic relations between human beings' activities and the Pachamama or Mother Nature. From the theoretical perspective, this approach is related to biocentrism and the super strong sustainability. But in the real world, the Ecuadorian Government has failed to implement a long-term strategy for protecting the Pachamama, because it is not easy to forget the social and economic necessities of its citizens. Anyway, this interesting experience gives us an important alternative which is the Net Avoided Emissions (NAE). This mechanism is closely linked to the concept of super strong sustainability and biocentrism that criticises the global carbon market.

Desarrollo, educación y cosmovisión: una mirada desde la cosmovisión andina

Este ensayo trata de visualizar algunos debates sobre la cosmovisión y la manera de relacionarse con el runa (hombre) y la Pacha Mama. El hilo conductor del texto es el concepto de cosmovisión andinakay pacha; a través del cual giran las discusiones sobre el desarrollo y la educación como conceptos alternativos en con frontación e interrelación con los conceptos denominados hegemónicos y universales. También analizo cómo la Constitución del Ecuador de 2008, a pesar de contener algunos proyectos históricos de los pueblos indígenas como el sumak kawsay, Pacha Mama, se opera en la lógica ambigua y contradictoria, y en esta línea se presenta el campo educativo carente de planes y programas curriculares en temas de cosmovisión y kichwa.

Desarrollo, educación y cosmovisión: una mirada desde la cosmovisión andina

This article tries to visualize various debates about cosmovision and the way runa (man) relates to Pacha Mama. The text’s common thread is the Andean concept of cosmovision-kay pacha, by which we lead a discussion on development and education as alternative concepts, confronted with and interrelated to notions of hegemonic and universal. We also analyze how Ecuador’s Constitution of 2008, despite containing historical language promoted by indigenous people such as sumak kawsay, Pacha Mama, is ambiguous and contradictory since national education programs lack specific plans and curricula that entail cosmovision and kichwa themes.

La reflexión meta-discursiva como función comunicativa en el proceso de construcción de discursos de cambio social en un grupo de mujeres [The meta-discursive awareness as communicative function …

This paper analyses the function of metadiscursive reflexion or awareness (a notion related with Bateson’s metacommunicative, 1972) in an Ecuadorian women’s group’s discussion about its disagreement with the Government on the economic issue known as ‘solidarity economy and finance’. The key point in this discussion is whether or not the perspective of gender must be included in the new law of economy and social finance. The pragmaticargumentative analysis of the most relevant discursive resources reveals that this metadiscursive awareness accomplishes two subfunctions: 1) the recontextualization of previous cognitive frames; and 2) the construction of new frames (reframings) that defend in a more creative way the inclusion of the gender perspective in the alluded law. Some of these frames provide different perspective to the ones previous used to describe the structural poverty of Ecuadorian women; and one of them calls for the development of the sumak kawsay mythical creation, the motto of the new constitution. From the theoretical-methodological perspective, I reflect on this metadiscursive function as part of the creative process of discourses of social change and on the constructivist perspective in the study of them.

The Ecuadorian Resource Dilemma: Sumak Kawsay or Development?

This article examines the tensions between constitutional rights, welfare politics and extractivism in Ecuador. In practice, the rights of nature risk being subordinated to other human values amidst strategic State interests in economic development and social programs, due to the government’s pragmatic approach toward environmental rights. The Ecuadorian Constitution of 2008 has been celebrated for being the most radical in the world regarding the specific rights of nature and the indigenous peoples. The central framing of the Constitution is the indigenous concept of Sumak Kawsay regarding humans being in harmony with nature. The Rafael Correa government launched a groundbreaking initiative to protect biodiversity and indigenous peoples in the oil rich national park of Yasuní, adding to the image of Ecuador as an ecological alternative to follow and a challenge to global capitalism. Far-reaching welfare programs have been implemented during the Correa administration, but resource extraction has increased. In light of the Ecuadoran experience, substantial questions remain as to whether Sumak Kawsay can be a path for socialist transformation and ecologically solvent development.

Rights of nature and the indigenous peoples in Bolivia and Ecuador: A Straitjacket for Progressive Development Politics?

Is it possible to justify resource extractivism to provide progressive welfare politics and still respect the constitutional rights of nature? The Indigenous concept of Sumak Kawsay on human beings living in harmony with each other and the environment is the fundamental framing of the new constitutions of Ecuador and Bolivia. These constitutional reforms embrace strengthened proper rights of nature and similarly of ethnic rights. However, the same constitutions grant the State the right to exploit and commercialize natural resources and extractivism has increased. This study revises the tensions between welfare politics, extractivism and the rights of nature and the Indigenous peoples in the new constitutional settings of Bolivia and, particularly, Ecuador. The article argues that Sumak Kawsay challenges dominating understandings of the concepts of welfare, common good and development, and likewise that a pragmatic approach is applied by national governments towards the constitutional rights of nature amidst other human values.

El buen vivir-Sumak Kawsay en la Constitución y en el PNBV 2013-2017 del Ecuador

El presente artículo, en su parte central, trata de exponer de manera más o menos sucinta la importancia del concepto del Sumak Kausay en la Constitución ecuatoriana y en el Plan Nacional del Buen vivir 2013-2017, mostrando sus continuidades y diferencias que obedecen, unas y otras, a los distintos momentos políticos en los que estos dos documentos han sido producidos: la Constitución, en el año 2008 en los inicios de la “revolución ciudadana” y el Plan del Buen Vivir, tras la reelección de Rafael Correa para un nuevo período presidencial en 2013. En una breve introducción se da cuenta del contexto histórico ecuatoriano antecedente, que permite la irrupción del Sumak Kawsay y en las conclusiones se recogen algunos ecos del debate político que tanto en Ecuador como en Bolivia se están produciendo frente a los intentos gubernamentales de pasar del discurso del Buen Vivir a los programas y proyectos de la política real.

Buen vivir o sumak kawsay. En busca de nuevos referenciales para la acción pública en Ecuador

Many scholars saw in the emergence of terms such as good living (buen vivir), sumak kawsay, or sumac qamana a radical breaking with the development paradigm....

Buen vivir: Emergent discourse within or beyond sustainable development?

This paper sets out to review the content of Buen vivir (‘good living’) as an emergent discourse, reflecting on its genesis and contributions to the sustainability debate, as well as on incipient attempts at its institutionalization. First, we briefly revisit criticisms to the development discourse and then engage in deeper exploration of the status of its direct descendant: sustainable development (SD). Next, we consider the Latin-American position in the discursive field of SD and the situation of Buen vivir vis-à-vis SD. Drawing on the traditional repository of the continent's indigenous cultures, this discourse has been theorized in the academic sphere and translated into normative principles that have started to permeate the public, but also the political sphere, especially in Ecuador and Bolivia. In this article we refer to Buen vivir as the contemporary discursive reelaboration of the Quechua concept Sumak Kawsay and similar principles from other indigenous peoples. It includes both the idea of interdependence between society and nature and a conception of the universal as a plurality. Lastly, we outline some inbuilt tensions of the Buen vivir discourse, but also its dialogic potential with several variants of the heterogeneous discursive field around the idea of SD.

Scaling up Buen Vivir: Globalizing Local Environmental Governance from Ecuador

��� • How does the population of a small Ecuadorian province inouence the development strategies pursued nationally and consequently push the global conversation toward an alternative model of sustainable development? This article explores watershed management reform in Tungurahua, Ecuador, to analyze how local communities challenged the dominant international model of sustainable development and drew on indigenous norms to offer an alternative. These communities resisted proposals by a transnational network advocating watershed management reforms that coupled conservation with markets for ecosystem services. Community members, however, did not reject the idea of reforming watershed management, and they negotiated with transnational advocates to create an alternative program rooted in indigenous norms. Tungurahua’s indigenous communities labeled their effort Mushuk Yuyay (Quichua for “new ideas”) to emphasize their departure from the development approach favored internationally. Their approach sought to realize the Quichua concept sumak kawsay (buen vivir in Spanish or wellbeing in English), which refers to living in harmony with nature, rather than dominating nature or removing human presence through conservation. In this study of Tungurahua’s watershed management reform, we show how the emerging ideal of sumak kawsay was institutionalized and put into practice. The Tungurahua case demonstrates the signiacance of historically marginalized indigenous communities in political processes and the inouence of indigenous norms on the global discourse regarding how to organize society around practices that harmonize human relationships with nature. 1 This article explains how the Tungurahuan peoples’ operationalization and institutionalization of the indigenous concepts mushuk yuyay and sumak kawsay through Tungurahua’s “new governance model” for sustainable watershed management provided a model for Ecuador’s National Plan for Wellbeing. This plan guides Ecuador’s development strategy, which has become part of a greater international campaign for the rights of nature and alternative paths of sustainable development—a global movement for buen vivir. It has inouenced the global

Commentary. Rights in the era of extraction policies

ABSTRACT This commentary by the president of a key Ecuadorian human rights organisation tells the story of civil society efforts to make Chevron-Texaco accountable for environmental destruction from its operations in that country. The author's three principal claims – that extractive industries are morally bankrupt and environmentally unsustainable; they violate human rights; and they violate the rights of nature enshrined in Ecuador's constitution – are sharpened by a critique of the rising “criminalization” of social protest. Broadening the discussion, he proposes sumak kawsay as an antidote not only to mining, but to a development model that privileges consumption over a life that balances human and environmental interests. Résumé Dans ce commentaire, le président d'une organisation équatorienne évoque les efforts de la société civile pour rendre la compagnie Texaco/Chevron responsable de la destruction environnementale causée par ses activités d'extraction dans ce pays. L'auteur constate que les industries d'extraction sont moralement corrompues; ne sont soutenable d'un point de vue environnemental; violent les droits humains; et violent les droits de la nature enchâssés dans la constitution équatorienne. Ses arguments sont renforcés par une critique de la criminalisation de la contestation sociale. Finalement, l'auteur approfondit la discussion en proposant le sumak kawsay comme une solution non seulement à l'extraction minière, mais aussi au modèle du développement qui place la consommation avant les intérêts humains et environnementaux.

El buen vivir: un diálogo intercultural

En este trabajo escudriñaremos en diferentes miradas sobre el Buen Vivir (Sumak Kawsay) o el Vivir Bien (Suma Qamaña), que es una propuesta hecha por los líderes indígenas de Ecuador y Bolivia, pero que ha sido retomada por otros pueblos indígenas y por intelectuales latinoamericanos y europeos. El Buen Vivir, que viene desde las profundidades de las culturas indígenas, sólo puede entenderse desde una perspectiva intercultural, ya que los propios líderes retoman en su problematización elementos que hoy están en debate en el mundo occidental, mientras que los intelectuales y activistas no indígenas recuperan las propuestas hechas por los propios indígenas y aportan otros elementos para pensarlo.

Inequity in health care utilization in Ecuador: an analysis of current issues and potential solutions

Background From an equity perspective, a health system needs to address social, political and economic inequalities that prevent people to achieve higher standards of living and exert their right to health [1,2]. The 2008 Ecuadorian Constitution guarantees the right to health, an important contributing factor to good living or Sumak Kawsay [3]. The purpose of this study was to analyze socioeconomic inequalities and its relationship to provision of health care services in Ecuador, and to discuss relevant policy alternatives.

El discurso del Sumak Kawsay y el Gran Salto Industrial en Bolivia

The MAS-IPSP movement of Bolivian government of Evo Morales Ayma in the last electioneering, showed a National Government Program (2010 -2015) which outlines the key elements for future public policy in Bolivia. The goal of this study is to identify the approach of rural development of this program in a context Sumak Kawsay (“Good Life”) discursive.

Development for a postneoliberal era? Sumak kawsay, living well and the limits to decolonisation in Ecuador

Latin American development is being rapidly transformed, with popularly elected governments embarking on reversals of neoliberalism informed by autochthonous notions of human wellbeing. Through a detailed examination of the origins and application of one development model, this article examines the constraints on and limits to postneoliberal development in terms of state-civil society relations and as a form of postcolonial governmentality. Interpreting Ecuadorian sumak kawsay (living well in English) in relation to embedded political cultures, specific opportunity structures, and the dynamic between contentious and electoral politics highlights the extent of room for manoeuvre in rethinking development. As a form of governmentality and pastoral power, Ecuadorian ‘postneoliberalism’ incorporates a constitutional commitment to social rights, collective citizens and the rights of nature. The paper also reveals the difficulty of making a definitive break from neoliberalism, which remains pervasive in practice, conceptualisations and state formations. Moreover, although various forms of anti-colonial ‘border thinking’ were proposed by social movement’s contentious politics, the paper argues that sumak kawsay works to sustain postcolonial conditions of development.

Ecuador’s Attainment of the Sumak Kawsay and the Role Assigned to International Arbitration

The current Constitution of Ecuador was approved by referendum on September 28, 2008 and replaces the 1998 Constitution. The text was published on October 20, 2008 in the Official Registry of Ecuador. As Part I of this chapter will explain, the 2008 Ecuadorian Constitution includes Article 422 preventing the Ecuadorian State from ceding its sovereign jurisdiction to international arbitration entities through entering into Treaties or international instruments. This provision is a clear manifestation of the rejection generated in Ecuador by an ex ante and general submission to international tribunals. Additionally, Part I discusses in detail the wording of Article 422, highlighting the doubts and difficulties of interpretation posed by this constitutional provision. Part I finishes by reflecting on two events derived from the approval of Article 422: the denunciation of the ICSID Convention and the denunciation of a number of Bilateral Treaties on the Promotion and Guarantee of Investments (BITs) signed by Ecuador. Part II of this chapter studies some recent judgments of the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court, which have declared many BITs as unconstitutional. A detailed review of these decisions will lead us to make a critical assessment. Part III analyzes the most recent manifestations of the Ecuadorian government regarding international investments. These latest contractual and legislative developments force us to reconsider the real impact that Article 422 of the Constitution is having on Ecuadorian economic life.