Neoliberalism, Indigeneity and Social Engineering in Ecuador's Amazon

Abstract

This article examines a state-sponsored hacienda invasion by indigenous people in Amazonian Ecuador in the context of neoliberal state restructuring and decentralization. Studies have demonstrated how neoliberal reforms limit the delivery of social services by the state, but in the case examined, the municipal government offered increased access to basic infrastructural and social services to residents of the new community and encouraged the land invasion. This may indicate shifts in neoliberal policy in parts of Ecuador, where decentralization is accompanied by promises of enhanced state services. I argue, however, that Ecuador's changing neoliberal agenda may provide new mechanisms for state control in Amazonia while reinforcing enduring racist ideologies of modernizing nationalism.

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