Economic globalization and social movements in Latin America

Abstract

Economic globalization in Latin America over the past four decades has resulted in some of the largest mass mobilizations in the region and has influenced electoral outcomes. This chapter traces the evolution of economic liberalization over time from the early years of the debt crisis to the institutionalization of neoliberalism as the dominant development strategy. Different forms of collective resistance to market-driven globalization are examined at the local, national, and transnational levels of social and political life. The authors also explore the current stage of globalization, characterized by intensifying environmental threats of resource extraction and climate change that are generating new rounds of popular mobilization. This overview concludes with a theoretical discussion of the key conditions driving the emergence of defensive mobilization in response to neoliberalism, including resource infrastructures, oppositional political parties, strategic experience, and the construction of meaning, grievances, and economic threats.