ABSTRACT
This chapter tells a story about popular and non-governmental organizations in the Andes of Ecuador. The tale is related to several of the intellectual and political currents referred to in the opening chapter by Peet and Watts. Of course, the language and concepts of the intellectual currents on which I draw are not those of the actors of the tale. But to relate the story to those concepts helps tell us something about the insights and insufficiencies of the concepts, and about the potentials and limits on the “liberational” possibilities embodied by these organizations.
