Shifting Relationships Between Social Movements and Institutional Politics

This chapter studies the changes in the relations between social movements and institutional politics in contemporary Chile. It is argued that the increase in collective protest during the last decade partially stems from an ongoing process of detachment of movements from political institutional actors. Disappointed by the absence of reforms that challenge the structures of Chile’s market society, activists have mobilized resources with little help from institutional actors and reacted to the perceived deficiencies of government policies. The chapter then goes on to compare the influential student movement and the less influential Mapuche movement. It is showed that movements are more likely to shape political outcomes if they can launch massive protest campaigns in visible locations with a predominance of disruptive yet peaceful tactics. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.