Overview

"Transitions from authoritarian to democratic governments can provide ripe scenarios for the emergence of new, insurgent political actors and causes. During peaceful transitions, such movements may become influential political players and gain representation for previously neglected interests and sectors of the population. But for this to happen, insurgent social movements need opportunities for mobilization, success, and survival. What happens to insurgent social movements that emerge during a democratic transition but fail to achieve their goals? How influential are they? Are they able to survive their initial mobilizing boom?To answer these questions, María Inclán looks at Mexico's Zapatista movement, whose emergence she argues was caught between ""sliding doors"" of opportunity. The Zapatistas were able to mobilize sympathy and support for the indigenous agenda inside and outside of the country, yet failed to achieve their goals vis-à-vis the Mexican state. Nevertheless, the movement has survived and sustained its autonomy despite lacking legal recognition. Inclán examines the vitality of the movement during various tests of the emergent democracy (during more competitive elections, under various political parties, and amid various repressive measures). She also looks at state responsiveness to movement demands and the role of transnational networks in the movement's survival. Framing the relative achievements and failures of the Zapatista movement within Mexico's democratization is essential to understand how social movements develop and survive and how responsive an electoral democracy really is. As such, this book offers a test to the quality of Mexico's democracy and to the resilience of the Zapatista movement, as it identifies the extent to which emerging political forces have failed to incorporate dissident and previously excluded political actors into the new polity."

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9780190869465

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Mar�a Incl�n's marvelous book captures, like no other, the logic and strategies of perhaps Latin America's most emblematic - and yet enigmatic - social movement of recent decades. Incl�n's excellent study shows us how - contrary to academic predictions - Mexico's democratic transition actually created openings for the social movement to re-pivot its contestation of the entire regime, and instead challenge remaining subnational spaces of authoritarianism. Viewed through this more pragmatic lens, rather than from the vantage of prior polemical Zapatista studies, Professor Incl�n offers broad lessons about the rationality that motivates such movements and how they can retain relevance even as political landscapes shift beneath them. -Todd Eisenstadt, author of Courting Democracy in Mexico and Politics, Identity and Mexico's Indigenous Rights Movements This is a sophisticated contribution to our understanding of the Zapatistas and, more generally, to the dynamics contentious politics. Maria Inclan probes political opportunities in less open democracies, showing how some fueled the Zapatista protest cycle and others depressed it. Mexico presented an opportunity landscape with complex intersections of state, party and popular mobilization, and the sliding doors of opportunity opened and closed via the multitiered intersections of municipal, state, national, and international political arenas. Scholars of contentious politics will be rewarded by the larger issues of regime and paradigm that this book raises. - Hank Johnston, Professor of Sociology and Hansen Chair of Peace and Nonviolence Studies, San Diego State University The Zapatistas' dramatic appearance in 1994 reflected more than two decades of effort, and captured global attention briefly. Maria Inclan's compelling account shows the deep roots of this indigenous movement, and traces its long term political effects, as the movement infused a larger campaign for democratic reforms. -David S. Meyer, author of The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America

Author Information

María Inclán is Associate Professor of Political Science at Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, México.

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