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From Protest to Proposal: The Contentious Politics of the Nicaraguan Anti‐Water Privatisation Social Movement
Author(s) -
ROMANO SARAH T.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
bulletin of latin american research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1470-9856
pISSN - 0261-3050
DOI - 10.1111/j.1470-9856.2012.00700.x
Subject(s) - politics , social movement , contentious politics , civil society , political science , government (linguistics) , democracy , political economy , movement (music) , accountability , field (mathematics) , public administration , sociology , law , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , pure mathematics , aesthetics
The Bolivian ‘water wars' of 2000 cast the international spotlight on civil society interventions aimed at reversing neoliberal economic agendas. However, few studies have examined the ways in which activists move from protest to proactive policy formation in these cases of ‘contentious politics'. Drawing on extensive field research, I argue that the Nicaraguan anti‐water privatisation social movement has expanded the contours of Nicaraguan democracy in two ways: (a) through improving the inclusiveness and accountability of existing representative institutions of government, including policy‐making processes, and (b) through creating extra‐institutional democratic spaces and practices.