ABSTRACT
The rise to power of left-wing presidents across Latin America during the first decade of the century was preceded by waves of civil society contention that paved the way for those victories. Furthermore, the influence of mobilised civil society did not end with the election of these leftist leaders, as had often been the case in the past. Instead, members of civil society organisations took up prominent government posts, long-standing demands were adopted as policy, and new constitutions were written with the active participation of social actors. Such levels of civil society influence over government are rare and therefore worthy of further study. This chapter examines two civil society movements – peasant farmers and the environmentalists known as ‘Yasunidos’ – that sought to influence public policy during the government of Ecuador's leftist president, Rafael Correa. As this analysis reveals, however, the alternative development models that were promised failed to materialise. Instead the Correa government favoured a model of economic growth based on the continued exploitation of primary commodities, leading to conflict with civil society. In both cases the movements failed to achieve their key demands. But while the peasant movement was split as much by internal tensions as government co-optation, Correa's attempts to delegitimise and divide the middle-class Yasunidos largely backfired. These cases contain important lessons for understanding the interactions between different kinds of civil society movement and government.
