Contesting Citizenship In Latin America: The Ri... -

: The shift to neoliberalism unintentionally challenged their local autonomy, giving them a reason to fight back.

In contrast, villages in places like might have had the same grievances, but they lacked the strong social networks or the political space to turn their frustration into a national movement. The "Postliberal Challenge"

: A "crack" in the state’s control allowed them the freedom to gather and form significant political organizations without being immediately crushed. Contesting Citizenship in Latin America: The Ri...

Imagine a village where, for decades, the people were recognized by the government strictly as Under this "corporatist" regime, they received land and social services not because they were indigenous, but because they were part of a state-sanctioned agricultural union. In this world, their ethnic identity was private; their political life was tied to their work.

One day, the government changed the rules. It adopted , aiming to treat everyone as individual, equal citizens. While this sounded like "democracy," it actually stripped away the collective protections the villagers relied on for their local autonomy. Suddenly, their lands were at risk, and the "peasant" unions that once protected them were dismantled. Imagine a village where, for decades, the people

Here is a helpful story to illustrate the book's core arguments: The Story of the Changing Village

The book by Deborah J. Yashar explores why indigenous movements suddenly surged in late 20th-century Latin America. It adopted , aiming to treat everyone as

: The villagers already had deep, pre-existing connections through the Church or previous unions. These networks allowed them to organize quickly.