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The Return of the State, New Social Actors, and Post-neoliberalism in Ecuador

Issue Editors: Franklin Ramirez & Veronica Silva

Since the crisis of 2008, national economies around the world have turned to state intervention as a strategy to maintain and reactivate credit, production, and demand and to protect the financial system. However, in various Latin American countries, a public economic agenda advancing the return of the state and dismantling neoliberal policies appeared at the start of the 21st century with the coming to power of new progressive political coalitions. These took advantage of the generalized popular discontent with the failed promises of neoliberalism, at least as seen in the cases of Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, El Salvador and Ecuador.

These victories resulted from the historic struggles of the popular and middle sectors of each country, in most cases represented by the political and social movements that succeeded in articulating the demands for an equitable distribution of wealth, better living conditions, and the expansion of economic opportunities and social recognition of their struggles. However, these center-left and leftist governments have had to deal with the weight of their inherited economic structures, the reactions of the economic elites, and the firm resistance and political strategies of neoliberalism (capital flight, banking threats, conditioned international loans, etc.) experiencing both successes and errors along the way.

Since January 2007 Ecuador has been part of the wave of progressive governments in the region that find themselves on the verge of post-neoliberalism. The victory of Rafael Correa – and his Alianza Pais (AP) movement – in the presidential election of 2006, opened a window of opportunity to put in place a heterodox strategy based on development schemas less dependent on the international financial market and with clear emphasis on the redistribution of social wealth. This victory has also presupposed the strengthening of high priority areas for national development such as health, education, and housing, through the expansion of various social programs.

Correa’s proposed agenda makes sense with the support of various social groups, among them Alianza Pais (the electoral vehicle that allowed him to take part in the 2006 election), which is an alliance of social organizations and citizen movements, noteworthy among them old militants of the radical left, intellectuals, university professors, and heads of NGOs, all of them progressives who succeeded in tapping into the accumulated demands of Ecuadorian society.

Thus the new proposal for governing relies on the institutional redesign of the state so it regains its regulatory and planning role, creating less concentrated and decentralized institutions in pursuit of the common good. This redesign presupposes the recovery or return of state institutionality in a country that has suffered recurrent state crises since the 1980s. In this respect, Correa’s strategy has been oriented toward the reestablishment of the state’s capacity to plan development, to regulate the economy and finances, and to conceptualize a geopolitical strategy to advance regional integration, such as ALBA and UNASUR. This political agenda, although expressed in a new Constitution approved by popular referendum in 2008, is not free from opposition and criticism from local elites, political and economic pressure groups, and even some social movements, especially the indigenous sector. The former, architects of Ecuador’s crises throughout its history, consider Correa’s agenda to be excessively statist and out of tune with the tendencies and demands of the free market at the national and global levels. On the other hand, the indigenous critics do not find the social, environmental, and economic policies of the government to be radical enough and seek higher levels of social and political participation with the government in power.

Despite the criticism, President Correa, in contrast to neoliberal orthodoxy, relies on public planning and state regulation of the economy to promote a national and sovereign development strategy based primarily on national capital and domestic savings. This has allowed, on the one hand, restoring public investment in the material and financial infrastructure of strategic national sectors and resources, among them public banking and hydrocarbons and on the other hand, advance redistributive policies that consolidate a society of rights, reduce the enormous social inequalities and strengthen the internal market. All of this is framed by a strong commitment to regional integration and sovereign insertion into the international arena.

This issue of Latin American Perspectives invites social researchers to reflect on the conflictive process of political change taking place in Ecuador in this political, economic, and social context. We invite empirical and analytical manuscripts with a comprehensive or local focus that deal with the following questions as well as others that are relevant for understanding the Ecuadorian political situation:

As a result of the proclamation of the new constitution and the process of institutional restructuring in the country: What state model is emerging in Ecuador? What are its principal effects, difficulties, and challenges? How are relationships between citizens and the state being changed in this new model?

Do Correa’s governmental acts constitute an effective break with the assumptions of the Washington Consensus? What are the most important factors in the success or failure of the specific initiatives spearheaded by this government?

Does the proposed post-neoliberal solution correspond to an era of neo-developmentalist

restructuring for the nation? Are there other perspectives or approaches that have not
been analyzed?

Will the new development model continue to be based on the historical exploitation of

natural resources? What other paths of accumulation are contemplated as development alternatives for the country? What are their economic, social, political, and environmental consequences? What tensions or contradictions are being generated between development and environmental protection? How have social movements reacted to them?

To what kind of national project do the political and administrative strategies of the new state (decentralization, de-concentration, de-corporatization) respond? How do they affect the social relations of class, ethnicity, gender, etc.? How does the reorganization of the state affect the ability of the Correa government to implement its economic and social policies? What role are local counterweights and social organizations playing in response to the government’s political proposals? Why do various social organizations oppose the logic of institutional change?

Does the political project “Revolución Ciudadana” contribute to strengthening social movements and the various forms of collective action in the struggle to overcome inequality? What tensions and conflicts arise between social actors and the Correa government?

7. Do the return of the state and the new public agenda open space for citizen participation?
What kinds of participatory democracy can be envisioned as a result of the change in
model?

How can we understand the Correa government’s two track attempt to play a role in both

      UNASUR and ALBA? Are these models of integration compatible? Is it possible to
      have a foreign policy that combines “the realism of power” and “counter-hegemony” as
     the centerpiece of a strategy of insertion into the world system?

Faced with the regional and international strategy of the government, are there effective counterweights to its political and economic project? How are alliances being constructed, with whom, and on the basis of what interests?

SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS
Manuscripts should be no longer than 25 pages (approximately 7,000-7,500 words) of double-spaced 12 point text with 1 inch margins, including notes and references, and should be paginated. Please follow the LAP style guide which is available at www.latinamericanperspectives.com under the “Submissions” tab. Please use the “About” tab for the LAP Mission Statement and details about the manuscript review process.

Manuscripts may be submitted in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. If submitting in Spanish or Portuguese, please indicate if you will have difficulty reading correspondence from the LAP office in English.

All manuscripts should be original work that has not been published in English and that is not being submitted to or considered for publication elsewhere in identical or similar form.

Please feel free to contact the Issue Editors with questions pertaining to the issue but be sure that manuscripts (including separate file with basic biographical information and e-mail and postal addresses) are sent to the LAP office in Word or rtf format by e-mail to:
laps@ucr.edu with the subject line – “Your name – MS for Ecuador issue”

In addition to electronic submission (e-mail, or CD-R or floppy disk if unable to send by e-mail) if possible, submit two print copies including a cover sheet with basic biographical and contact information to:
Managing Editor, Latin American Perspectives
P.O. Box 5703
Riverside, California, 92517-5703

Issue Editor contact information:
Franklin Ramírez - klamirez2003@yahoo.fr
Verónica Silva – lavero25@gmail.com