Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
6-1-2003
Abstract
This paper examines patterns of popular protest in contemporary Latin America largely in response to the region's adoption of market reforms. The central question addressed is, why have social protests against neoliberal reforms emerged more in some countries than in others? And second, are there discernible patterns in the forms of social protest being undertaken? The research questions are addressed using a pooled cross-sectional time series analysis of domestic conflict in Latin America coupled with a qualitative comparative analysis of the patterns of protest in the member and associate member countries of Latin America's most important trading bloc, the Common Market of the South (Mercosur; f.1991). The paper argues that it is the character of domestic political institutions which structures the nature, scope, and intensity of resistance to economic reform on the part of civil society. It is suggested that new social actors, who lack institutionalized channels of social representation, have come to the forefront of anti-neoliberal protests. Market reforms are found to have produced a shift in the pattern of social protest in Latin America, from institutionalized to non-institutionalized forms of social mobilization.
Publisher
Latin American and Iberian Institute, UNM
Language (ISO)
English
Sponsors
The Latin American and Iberian Institute of the University of New Mexico
Keywords
political institutions, social protest, contemporary Latin America
Recommended Citation
Rice, Roberta. "Channeling Discontent: The Impact of Political Institutions on Patterns of Social Protest in Contemporary Latin America." (2003). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/laii_research/10
