Organized Civil Society Under Authoritarian Populism: Cases from Ecuador

Abstract

This article examines how civil society organizations (CSOs) in Latin America cope with authoritarian populism. In particular, it outlines cases of coping and adaptive strategies by CSOs in Ecuador during the years of President Rafael Correa’s presidency (2007–2017). Ecuador provides an example of an authoritarian, leftist populist administration; thus situating our discussion in the general civil society-government relations literature, we link together trends of authoritarianism and populism and its implications on CSOs. Using a qualitative-interpretive approach with long-term fieldwork in Ecuador, we outline a selection of coping strategies used by organized civil society that include formal, semi-formal and informal organizational configurations.

Keywords

• nonprofit-government relations
• civil society-government relations
• populism
• authoritarian regime
• coping strategies
• adaptive strategies
• restrictive policies