Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: For social movement scholars and activists alike the question of how to most effectively pursue change is a serious one. What kinds of structure and strategies do successful social movements adopt? Scholars especially tend to view movements as existing in an either/or dichotomy with regards to seeking state power or not, being identity-based or more inclusive, and using legal, institutional methods of struggle or extra-institutional ones. However, we must question the utility of such dichotomies. How useful are theses dichotomies and do they apply to the structures and strategies of actual social movements?
As a means of addressing these very important issues, I will be drawing on research conducted in 2002 in order to look at the structure of and strategies used by the Indigenous movement in Ecuador. What are the structures and strategies that have allowed this movement to break with the old dichotomies successfully? How successful are these mixed means of pursuing change? Can other movements also reject the dichotomies and pursue similar strategies to those presented here?