Contenu du sommaire : Reconversions militantes et élites politiques en Amérique latine

This issue tackles two central concerns surrounding the reconfiguration of formerly activism in recent Latin American history. It considers the political transformation of former activists and the networks and routes used to transform themselves, through the notion of reconversion, and their relationship to shifting access to the state. It also uses case studies to reflect on the reconfiguration of activism in societies that have undergone substantial neoliberal reforms. As individual activists move from volunteering or voluntary political association –such as activism in political parties, local community organizations, various types of social movements and organizations– to professional political activity, this issue argues that they must inherently go through a process of adaptation. An empirical analysis of these conversions captures more nuanced and profound changes regarding the place of activism in Latin American societies in recent decades, the opening of new spaces for the “left” and for emerging social movements, and the partisan reorganization of actors from various political and social groups.

Studies focusing on international circulation consider the movement of elites towards central countries as strategies of distinction and acquisition of cosmopolitan assets. In order to study the effects of the circulation of elites through peripheral countries, this article examines the case of intellectuals from the Brazilian left who went into exile in Chile after the 1964 military coup. The latter are characterized socially and placed within a network delineating the structure of the polarities in the social space to which they belong. Lastly, the repositioning of this group in Brazil when the country was undergoing a democratization process is analyzed to shed light on the impact which the use of the capital, knowledge, and ties acquired abroad had on the restructuration of the intellectual space.

How can the multiplication of Salvadorian organizations, foundations, or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the late 80s be explained? What do these phenomena reveal about the changes at work within Central American activist networks? Referring to the testimonies of former executives of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) and former refugees discussing the evolution of the refugee communities, I will question the concept of “NGOization of social movements” used today to explain the growing number of Central American organizations. Staying away from an analysis in terms of “depoliticization”, I argue that the NGOization of social movements stems not from a delegitimization of social conflicts, but rather from the invention of a new style of support, which allows to maintain some ties of dependence in a context of greater equality. As a consequence, rather than a fragmentation of the lower classes, the NGOization implies the avoidance of these social classes.

This article studies the relationship between political moments, the ideological and organizational transformations of the FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional), and its activists' strategies to insert themselves professionally into spaces and organizations in charge of representing the interests of social groups, which had been historically excluded from politics. In order to illustrate this process, the political trajectories of four activists will be presented: how they got involved in the Sandinista movement, what knowledge and skills they acquired, and how they applied these skills to mobilize specific social groups according to the FSLN's strategic objectives. Thus, the paper aims to contribute to the debate on the factors that explain the consolidation of the FSLN's position after 1990 in the Nicaraguan political system, which cannot be reduced to its leaders' ability to negotiate the spaces of institutional power with other political forces.

Rural social movements fighting for agrarian reform have been among the most organized and combative collective actors in Brazil for the last few decades. From 2003 onwards, some of their activists have reached positions of power within the state, which is now ruled by the Workers' Party, a long-time ally. Drawing on ethnographical research on the state agency responsible for implementing agrarian reform in Brazil, I analyze the challenges faced by activists working as bureaucrats through the description of two of the most important public disputes in which they have taken part in their daily work. These disputes are key to understanding the relation between social movements and the state in the context of the Workers' Party.

In Ecuador, the coming to power in 2007 of Rafael Correa and his Citizens' Revolution government with its “post-neoliberal” program led to a deep reconfiguration of the political space and to the rise of a heterogeneous group of actors mainly composed, at first, of leaders of the radical left, intellectuals, and community activists. Among the latter, some had participated in the mobilization in defense of migrants' rights in the aftermath of a mass exodus of Ecuadorians in the late 1990s. The article deals with the conversion of activists in the emigrants' cause and the political bridges towards the Citizens' Revolution, and explores the role played by these former activists in the implementation of the “post-neoliberal” political project.

In Argentina, different social actors mobilized during the democratic transition, asking for the “democratization” of the police and of penal institutions. Their claims were not heard until the end of the 1990s. In the context of rising insecurity, the federal government adopted a crime prevention policy whose objective was “to democratize the government security” in order to implement a policy which was “more respectful of human rights”. How can this reference to “democratization” and “human rights” be explained? By charting the biographical trajectories of the actors who spearheaded this plan, this article describes the reconversion of knowledge developed in academic and activist arenas into state expertise.

In Argentina, as in other Latin American countries, urban services have gradually been integrated within the state prerogatives through the creation of public monopolies. However, these monopolies still do not cover the whole country. Given the growth of informal settlements on the outskirts of major metropolises, such as Buenos Aires, and in the context of profound changes in the service economy, how can the access to basic services be guaranteed for disadvantaged populations? Can microcredit aimed at accessing services, such as energy, be an appropriate instrument to facilitate the connection of poor households to infrastructure networks? This article examines the effectiveness of microcredit to finance domestic connections to infrastructure networks through its use as part of a gas extension project in Buenos Aires, Argentina.