Recognition Politics: Indigenous Rights and Ethnic Conflict in the Andes

Fontana, L. B. (2023) Recognition Politics: Indigenous Rights and Ethnic Conflict in the Andes. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781009265539 (doi: 10.1017/9781009265515)

Abstract

Recognition Politics provides an empirically grounded analysis and original theoretical framework to understand a new wave of widely overlooked ethnic conflicts that have emerged across the Andean region, coinciding with the implementation of internationally acclaimed indigenous rights. Why are groups that have peacefully cohabited for decades suddenly engaging in hostile and at times violent behaviours? What is the link between these conflicts and changes in collective self-identification, claims-making and rent-seeking dynamics? And how, in turn, are these changes driven by broader legal and policy reforms? The book argues that institutional reforms promoting the recognition of ethnic groups can strengthen identity boundaries and work as triggers of old and new social tensions. These tensions are rooted in the differential treatment that communities of rural poor receive under the new recognition framework. Recognition conflicts are particularly evident in those regions characterised by high socio-demographic heterogeneity, often resulting from migration and displacement, and by precarious livelihoods that increase competition over resources typically linked to recognition politics, such as land. To develop this argument, Fontana draws on extensive empirical material and case studies of conflicts from three Andean countries – Bolivia, Colombia and Peru – which have been global pioneers in the implementation of recognition politics.

• Item Type: Books
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Fontana, Dr Lorenza
• Authors: Fontana, L. B.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• ISBN: 9781009265539
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 The Author
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

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• University of Glasgow Library Catalogue