Social movements have paved the way for the rise to power of progressive governments in Latin America. Their relationship is complex

 

Many left critics of twenty-first century Latin American progressive governments apply the “theory of passive revolution,” which claims that social movements were tightly controlled and demobilized. The fact that popular movements were key to the recent comeback of progressives in elections throughout the region would indicate that the relationship between progressive governments and social movement was more complex and less parasitic than these writers claim. This is the central thesis of Latin American Social Movements and Progressive Governments: Creative Tensions between Resistance and Convergence which Rowman and Littlefield will release later this year