Abstract

Globally, the last decade bore witness to heightening threats from regressive forces including authoritarian governments to the fundamental freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association, therewith shrinking the manoeuvring space for civil society actors (CSAs). Since April 2018, Nicaragua has been the stage of a nationwide civil uprising which evolved from economic and ecological demands into a call for the resignation of the Ortega-Murillo regime, which has stripped Nicaraguans of their political rights and civil liberties. This warrants a deeper understanding of how CSAs may be able to reclaim and/or reopen civic spaces in order to advance their alternative visions to a more just, democratic and sustainable society. Through a comparative analysis of four social movements with their roots in agrarian, indigenous, and urban struggles respectively, this paper assesses the dynamics and implications of convergence politics between these movements from the perspective of reclaiming civic spaces. As these movements originate from variegated yet intersectional struggles, the potentials for convergence have much to do with issue-specificness and inclusivity. Meanwhile, as the dynamics of shrinking civic spaces produce differentiated impacts depending on CSAs’ social and organisational positions, these spaces do not only foster the unproblematic formation of united fronts, but can also exacerbate struggles between actors over the socialisation of demands. Convergence politics therewith carry the potential to reinforce rather than transform localised sentiments and other structural origins of protest. In Nicaragua, enacting intersectionality may prove crucial to forge new spaces for social movements which are emancipatory rather than exclusionary in practice.

Presenters

Elyne Doornbos
Student, PhD in Environmental Science and Technology, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), Barcelona, Spain

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

2020 Special Focus—Globalization and Social Movements: Familiar Patterns, New Constellations?

KEYWORDS

Civic Space, Social Movements, Convergence Politics, Intersectionality, Nicaragua

Digital Media

This presenter hasn’t added media.
Request media and follow this presentation.