Social movements, right-wing politics and processes of social change in Latin America in the 21st century

The study of social movements has become a privileged channel for addressing the current Latin American situation from a critical perspective and from the viewpoint of the actors involved. Therefore, through a consolidated research group, we have fostered this line of research in various forums, culminating in an honorable mention from CLACSO for the research team grant “State, Democracy and Social Movements in Latin America and the Caribbean: Persistences and Emergences in the 21st Century.” The final result of this work was the chapter titled “Social Movements and the Right in Paraguay (2015-2016), Brazil (2018-2020) and Colombia (2018-2020)” (CLACSO, 2023), an essential contribution to the development of this seminar. This initiative is the result of a long history of participation, and in Dr. Soler's case, coordination, in CLACSO Working Groups based at IEALC since 2013. Furthermore, the teaching team has been teaching the course "Processes of Social Change in Latin America in the 21st Century" in the Sociology program at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires for a decade. Currently, the focus of their training is on the relationship between right-wing politics and social movements. Through these initiatives, we have been able to reconstruct the leading role of social movements in various critical junctures: the crisis of the neoliberal paradigm, the populist-progressive cycle, the rise of the Latin American right, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the 1990s, neoliberalism triggered a series of crises that resulted in a substantial democratization of the political sphere. Social movements redefined the meanings of democracy and citizenship (Escobar, Alvarez, and Dagnino, 2001), rehabilitating the concept in a “strong” sense (Svampa, 2017). Simultaneously, two new political and ideological fields emerged.

On the one hand, new populist-progressive experiences emerged, their base strengthened by social movements (Soler, 2020). Subsequently, disagreements on key issues such as development, the scope of democracy, the role of the state, and levels of autonomy undermined this relationship, leading, in many cases, to outright opposition (Le Quang, 2016). On the other hand, following the crisis of hegemony that began in 2008, the current Latin American right wing strengthened. This right wing employs new strategies for action and intervention in the political sphere (Luna and Rovira Kaltwasser, 2014; Soler, 2021). However, despite its novel features, economic and social control policies are essentially a rehash of neoliberalism, generating a new cycle of collective action (Rebón and Ruiz Encina, 2020). In the current situation, we are experiencing what Mudde (2019) calls the “fourth wave” of the right, associated with the emergence of new radicalized leaders.

In this historical period, characterized by the rise and consolidation of right-wing forces, as well as by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, social movements reconfigured their demands, protest formats, and channels of visibility. Indeed, they became the main agents of struggle, guaranteeing a foundation of rights and a basic consensus around democracy.

In short, social movements have been key players in the process of social change that began after the crisis of the neoliberal paradigm. Therefore, we maintain the need to consolidate their analysis through collective spaces for research, teaching, and political debate, where researchers, students, government policymakers, and other stakeholders can come together to unify perspectives from different countries, disciplines, and fields.

Objective

The seminar aims to explain the cycle of collective action led by social movements and the influence of right-wing forces on it during processes of social change in 21st-century Latin America. To this end, it draws on the Latin American critical tradition, employing contemporary historical sociology as its analytical framework. This approach enables a study based on the intersection of structural contexts and group experiences, and proposes a conception of time as both a historical category and a methodological horizon. Furthermore, it reaffirms an intellectual commitment to analyzing the region as a whole, while problematizing Latin American unity and diversity. In doing so, it hopes to contribute to a socio-historical and processual reflection that will identify continuities and ruptures within the phenomenon under study.

From this comparative and sociohistorical perspective, we analyze the material and identity-based dimensions of collective action undertaken by Latin American social movements in different contexts, focusing on their connection to the right-wing forces emerging in the 21st century. In this endeavor, we will examine the role of social movements following the crisis of the neoliberal paradigm, during the period of progressive populist governments, in the rise of the current Latin American right, after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and finally, in the current emergence and consolidation of the radical right in the region.

Specific objectives

• To contribute to the training of students in the acquisition of knowledge about social movements in critical situations in the region, as well as in the formulation of questions about the present in general and the phenomenon under study in particular.
• To provide conceptual tools for analyzing Latin American social movements in contexts of social change during the 21st century.
• To train students in the design and implementation of techniques and instruments for the development of empirical data for academic purposes, the production of public policies and/or projects for civil society.
• To guide students in the production of quality work (final work) on the topic of study in order to contribute to collective knowledge, stimulate lines of research from the perspective proposed in the seminar and intervene in the political debates of the present.
• Based on the analysis of the link between social movements, the political system and government, strengthen the spaces for exchange and debate that contribute to the construction of critical thinking and contribute to the processes of transformation in order to discuss the concrete impact of the phenomenon studied on society.

• Social movements as an object of study and their approach from the Latin American social sciences
• Social movements facing the crisis of the neoliberal paradigm in Latin America
• Social movements during the populist-progressive cycle
• Social movements: trajectories, social composition, demands and mechanisms of action after the rise of the right
• Rise of the Latin American right in the 21st century
• Social movements and the right wing in Latin America
• Social movements, pandemic, and the right wing. Alternative projects, reconfiguration of channels and repertoires of action
• The radical right in Latin America

• Ansaldi, (2022). A democratic right is rarer than a Japanese person with dreadlocks, although the problem is different. Revista Estudios Digital, (49).
• Barragán Manjón, et al. (2020). Latin America 2019: Return to instability. Iberoamericana, 20, (73).
• Bringel, B. and Falero, A. (2016). Social movements, progressive governments and the State in Latin America: transitions, conflicts and CRH Notebook, (29).
• Bringel, L. B., & Torres, E. (2020). Social movements and Latin American reality: A historical-theoretical reading. Towards a renewal of Latin American social theory. CLACSO.
• Della Porta, (2020). Social movements in times of Covid-19: another world is necessary. Global Alert, (175).
• Garretón, (2001). Social changes, actors and collective action in Latin America. Social Policy Series, (17). ECLAC.
• Ibarra, , Bringel, B., & Pleyers, G. (2020). Social movements, cultural change and impacts of the pandemic. Global Alert. CLACSO.
• Modonesi, M. and Rebón, J. (Comp.) (2011). A decade in Popular Struggles in Latin America (2000-2009). Prometeo-CLACSO-UBA.
• Nava, A., & Grigera, J. (2022). Pandemic and social protest in Latin America: trends, actors and demands of social and labor conflict in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Colombia. 2019-2020. Archives of the history of the labor movement and the left, (20).
• Poggi, Hoeveler, R., (2024). Old ideologies, new clothes. Perspectives on current fascism from the experience of new European and Latin American trends. In Tzeiman, A. and Martuscelli, D. (Comps.), The crisis of democracy in Latin America. CLACSO.
• Prego, , and Nikolajczuk, M. (2023). The right wing in Latin America in the 21st century. The consolidation of inequality and the establishment of a new institutional framework. Sudamérica: Revista de Ciencias Sociales, (17).
• Seoane, J., Taddei, E., and Algranati, C. (2006). The new configurations of popular movements in Latin America. Politics and social movements in a hegemonic world. Lessons from Africa, Asia and Latin America. CLACSO.
• Soler, (2023). Democracies in crisis. Left and right in the 21st century in Latin America. Amezcua, M. (Coord.). The crises of democracy in Latin America. University of Guadalajara/ Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS) and CLACSO.
• Soler, , Mercado, AB, Nikolajczuk, M., and Scargiali, EA (2023). Social movements and the right wing in Paraguay (2015-2016), Brazil (2018-2020) and Colombia (2018-2020). In State, democracy and social movements. Persistences and emergencies in the 21st century (pp. 223-289). CLACSO.
• Soto Pereira, D. (2023). Conservative and reactionary movements as an example of the appropriation of social mobilization and its strategies by the right wing in Latin America. In Orozco, R. et al. Old and new right wings in Latin America. Counterinsurgency, dispossession and common senses. CLACSO.
• Stefanoni, (2023). The thousand plateaus of reaction: mutations of the extreme right. Sanahuja, J. and Stefanoni, P. (eds.). Extreme Right and Democracy. Carolina Foundation.
• Svampa, (2017). Social movements, political traditions and dimensions of collective action. From the change of era to the end of a cycle. Edhasa.
• Svampa, M. (2020). What the Right Brings to the Region: Between the Political and the Social: New Fields of Dispute. New Authoritarian Right-Wing Movements. Conversations on the Current Political Cycle in Latin America. Quito: Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung/Ed. Abya Yala.
• Therborn, G. (2003). The crisis and the future of capitalism. In E. Sader and Gentilli (Eds.), The fabric of neoliberalism: Market, crisis and social exclusion. CLACSO.
• Zibechi, R. (2006). Social movements: new scenarios and unprecedented challenges. OSAL, Social Observatory of Latin America, (21).

The basic requirements for taking a seminar are:

• Availability of at least 4 hours per week to dedicate to the seminar course.
• Internet access.
• Reasonable handling of communication and computer tools.
• Language proficiency in the language in which the course will be taught. The official languages ​​are Spanish and Portuguese.

The seminars last 10 weeks, plus the completion of a final project. A total of 90 hours of dedication will be credited.

A course consists of twelve classes, each accompanied by required reading bibliography, supplementary bibliography, discussion forums and training activities proposed by the teaching team, partial deliveries and a final project.
The course is online and asynchronous. Some instructors may propose synchronous activities. In those cases, the time and date will be agreed upon beforehand between the teaching team and the students to ensure everyone's participation.
To pass the seminar, you must participate in at least 80% of the discussion forums and activities proposed by the teachers, have completed the scheduled partial deliveries, and pass the final work.

The possible payment methods are by credit card or bank transfer.