Contesting Citizenship In Latin America: The Ri... May 2026

The book by Deborah J. Yashar explores why indigenous movements suddenly surged in late 20th-century Latin America.

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

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" Contesting Citizenship in Latin America: The Ri...

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

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

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.

According to Deborah Yashar , this village—and real movements in countries like and Bolivia —succeeded because of three specific things: In contrast, villages in places like might have

The story doesn't end with a protest. These movements are now posing a . They are asking the state: "Can you be a democracy if you only recognize individuals, or must you also recognize our collective rights and autonomy as indigenous peoples?" .