The 'New' Development Regime in Ecuador: Implications for the Highland Indigenous Movement

Abstract

Beginning in 2007, Rafael Correa’s presidency has marked a new era in Ecuadorian politics. Correa has been a vocal opponent of the Washington Consensus and has vastly expanded social spending and development programming. In spite of his government’s seemingly progressive achievements, Correa has ostracized political and social sectors whose ideals he claims to champion, most notably leftist Indigenous organizations. Using a critical modernist framework, this thesis explores how the new developmental context in Ecuador affects the political project of the Indigenous and Peasant Movement of Cotopaxi (MICC), a provincial level organization. This study focuses particularly on a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program that is emblematic of Correa’s development regime and discusses the potentially threatening implications for the Indigenous movement’s long-term emancipatory project.