Social Movement Activism, Informal Politics, and Clientelism in Latin America

Abstract

This chapter examines an underexplored dimension of contemporary Latin American contentious politics: the overlaps between social movement activism, informal party politics, and the dispute over state resources. Its point of departure rests on the following hypothesis: the nature of contentious politics, in which the working classes in Latin America have recently played a leading role, has been shaped by the close relationship that exists between processes of politicization and the reproduction of life of these classes. Accordingly, the chapter examines the day-to-day dynamics within relationships and practices of political intermediation that involve social movements, political parties, and state agencies. Applying an ethnographic and comparative perspective, we focus on contentious experiences in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, referring to events in Chile as a counterexample. Based on these cases, we show how the interaction between politicization and reproduction of life has shaped at least three unique aspects of contentious activism in the region. These are: (1) the political centrality that the dispute over state resources has in grassroots movements; (2) the territorial circumscription that these movements possess and its overlap with informal party politics; and (3) the importance of the moral economies of political participation in the daily dynamics of contentious action.