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
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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

Postprint 28 p, 1.3 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles