ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a critical review of the discourse on Buen Vivir, including policy as well as Indigenous and academic literature, and analyses how it can seek to achieve the common aims of sustainability and wellbeing, albeit from a different perspective. It focuses on putting the pieces of the conceptual puzzle together through a synthesis of the core common principles, to begin to examine how it could become a practical alternative to Sustainable Development, as a plural solution for change. Villalba cautions against comparing Buen Vivir and trends in Western alternatives, to avoid co-optation by the dominant discourses of development. In the political discourses of Buen Vivir, participation is viewed as a way to understand communities’ experiences on the ground, and an attempt to meet their real needs.
