Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Participatory Effectiveness of Grassroots Rural Movements: A Comparative Analysis of Brazil, Chile and Ecuador

这项研究考察了1993-2004年期间巴西、智利和厄瓜多尔农村基层运动对土地政策和扩大合法权利的影响。这项工作对拉丁美洲社会运动何时以及如何进入政党和利益集团政治而不是继续直接行动是有利的。它聚焦于运动领导人面临的两难境地，他们必须通过与政治精英互动来推进群体要求，而不是做出可能会疏远他们自己的基层支持基础的妥协。社会运动和政治行为者之间的动态相互作用被正式化为一个模型，在该模型中，领导人利用他们基层支持的可靠性来衡量与政党、政客和国家机构合作的风险。这一分析创新地在新民主化国家背景下的社会运动资源、机会和战略之间架起了一座桥梁。对六个在解决冲突方面有着相似要求但不同程度成功的运动的比较表明，民间社会中代表性不足的群体的公众参与如何影响这些民主国家的质量、问责制和包容性。研究方法将包括对巴西无地农村运动(MST)领导人、智利马普切土著领导人和厄瓜多尔土著民族联合会(CONAIE)领导人的半结构化访谈，揭示领导人的特点、组织结构、运动的凝聚力，以及领导人与成员、更广泛的当地人口以及地方和国家一级的政治代表互动的质量和性质。还将与国会中该运动的支持者和反对者以及主要政府官员进行面谈，以评估该运动在政治层面面临的政治机会和障碍。这些材料将得到档案和报纸分析的补充。这项研究的更广泛影响包括以下几个方面。有兴趣了解民间社会中代表性不足的群体如何在决策领域施加影响的学者、学生和政策制定者将对这项研究的结果感兴趣。这项研究的结果将通过在美国和国外的多学科会议和讲座上的陈述，在地方、国家和国际组织中传播，与基层团体和教育机构合作，探索公民社会问题。

This study examines the impact of rural grassroots movements on agrarian policy and legal rights expansion in Brazil, Chile and Ecuador in the 1993-2004 period. This work generates insights into when and how it is advantageous for Latin American social movements to enter party and interest group politics rather than continuing direct action. It focuses on the dilemma faced by movement leaders who must advance group demands by interacting with political elites without making compromises that would alienate theirs own grassroots base of support. The dynamic interplay between social movements and political actors is formalized into a model in which leaders use the reliability of their grassroots support to gauge the risks of cooperating with parties, politicians and state agencies. The analysis innovates in bridging a link between social movement resources, opportunities and strategies in the context of newly democratized nations. A comparison of six movements with similar demands but varying degrees of success in the resolution of conflicts illuminates the ways in which public participation by underrepresented groups in civil society affects the quality, accountability and inclusiveness of these democracies. The research methodology will involve semi-structured interviews with MST (Landless Rural Movement) leaders in Brazil, indigenous Mapuche leaders in Chile, and CONAIE (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador) leaders in Ecuador that will reveal leadership characteristics, organizational structure, cohesiveness of the movement, and the quality and nature of leaders' interaction with members, the wider local population, and political representatives at the local and national level. Interviews with supporters and opponents of the movement in congress as well as key government officials will be also be conducted to assess the political opportunities and obstacles the movement faces at the political level. This material will be supplemented by archival and newspaper analysis. The broader impacts of this study include the following. The findings of this study will be of interest to scholars, students, and policymakers interested in understanding of how underrepresented groups in civil society fare in exerting influence in the policymaking arena. The results of this research wil be disseminated among local, national and international organizations working with grassroots groups and educational institutions exploring civil society issues through the presentations in multidisciplinary conferences and lectures in the U.S. and abroad.