Citizenship, State Domination and Protest in the “Citizen Revolution” in Ecuador (2007-2016)

Abstract

This article analyzes the contradictory uses of the concept of citizenship in the governmental practice of Rafael Correa’s party Alianza País (AP). Correa’s AP is a self-described leftist movement that promised a “Citizen’s Revolution”. Yet in power Correa restricted the institutional foundations that allow for citizens to articulate their autonomous demands. His administration repressed and coopted social movements, and other organizations of civil society. I argue that AP self-conception as a movement that promised to found from scratch all institutions of society explains their contradictory appropriation of the concept of citizenship. Instead of delivering a citizen’s revolution, they created a plebiscitary democracy under Correa’s leadership with the support of a strong state.