ABSTRACT
The Andean nation of Ecuador is an ethnically diverse, middle-income country, with significant oil reserves. Indigenous and social movements have played a central role in national politics for the last three decades. Ecuador entered the pink tide in 2007 with the election of new left radical populist, Rafael Correa, who served as president for a decade and led what he called a Citizens’ Revolution. During Correa’s ten years in power the country made significant progress in reducing poverty and inequality, as well as major infrastructure investments. However, civil liberties, including freedom of the press and the right to protest were infringed upon by the government. Economically, Correa pivoted away from neoliberalism, but failed to lessen Ecuador’s dependence on extractive industries like oil and mineral mining, with all their concomitant environmental costs. Since Correa left power, Ecuadorian politics have swung to the right, first under President Lenin Moreno and then with the 2021 election of neoliberal banker-turned-politician, Guillermo Lasso. In recent years the country’s economy has been pummeled by falling international oil prices, a devastating earthquake in 2016, and the coronavirus pandemic. Recent economic decline has reversed much of the progress made during the previous decade on poverty and inequality reduction.
