Institutionalizing ethnic demands : framing processes, resource mobilization, and indicators of party formation in Colombian ethnic movements

Abstract

This thesis examines framing and mobilization processes in Colombian ethnic social movements. I employ systematic process analysis to analyze the question of why indigenous social movement organizations have created viable ethnic party vehicles in electoral politics while black social movement organizations have failed in this endeavor. I find that fragmented framing in the black movement led to disunity and inhibited mobilization processes culminating in the inability to mobilize a loyal electorate. This fragmentation was observed less in the indigenous case, resulting in a more unified movement with broader appeal to the indigenous electorate. My research makes key contribution to the Latin American social movement literature by performing an analysis that compares the respective ethnic social movements in the region while also addressing ethnic party formation. Much of the extant literature highlights one of these groups while paying only cursory attention to the other. The systemic process analysis performed here seeks to help fill this gap in the literature.