Populism, Hegemony, and the Politics of Natural Resource Extraction in Evo Morales's Bolivia
Andreucci, Diego (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Date: |
2018 |
Abstract: |
Is populism necessary to the articulation of counter-hegemonic projects, as Laclau has long argued? Or is it, as Žižek maintains, a dangerous strategy, which inevitably degenerates into ideological mystification and reactionary postures? In this paper, I address this question by exploring the politics of discourse in Evo Morales's Bolivia. While, in the years leading to the election of Morales, a populist ideological strategy was key to challenging neoliberal forces, once the hegemony of the new power bloc was stabilised, indigenous demands for emancipatory socio-environmental change began to be perceived as a threat to resource-based accumulation. In this context, the populist signifiers that originated in indigenous-popular struggles were used by the Morales government to legitimise repression of the indigenous movement. I argue, therefore, that ideological degeneration signals a problem not with populism per se, but rather with the class projects and shifting correlations of forces that underpin it in changing conjunctures. |
Grants: |
European Commission 289374
|
Note: |
Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552 |
Rights: |
Tots els drets reservats. |
Language: |
Anglès |
Document: |
Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar |
Subject: |
Populism ;
Political ecology ;
Resource governance ;
Indigenous movements ;
Bolivia |
Published in: |
Antipode, Vol. 50, Issue 4 (September 2018) , p. 825-845, ISSN 1467-8330 |
DOI: 10.1111/anti.12373
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Record created 2019-03-29, last modified 2023-03-08