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AbstractThis paper bridges the gap between studies of subaltern social movements and elite politics by asking how political and economic elites respond to indigenous mobilisation in Ecuador. I argue that elites have developed a hegemonic project based around three core principles – multiculturalism, economic liberalism and democracy – that serves to incorporate indigenous peoples into the political system while simultaneously excluding indigenous movement demands that would undermine the political and economic sources of elite power. The paper develops this argument around a concept of what I call 'multicultural market democracy' based on historical analysis and in-depth interviews with 43 Ecuadorian elites.

Abstract
Indigenous peoples in Latin America have produced some of the region's strongest and most enduring social movements, drawing on a diverse repertoire of contention to pursue their goals. In the twenty-first century, social media have transformed the landscape of collective action, compelling Indigenous movements to navigate the evolving dynamics of digital platforms. There is an ongoing debate in the literature regarding the role of social media in mobilization. But we know relatively little about how social media fit into the tactical repertoires of Indigenous actors and what tasks these platforms are used for. This article addresses this gap through an examination of how Indigenous actors use social media during protest events. We conducted a comparative analysis of social media content produced by Indigenous social movement organizations during major protest events in three countries from 2018 to 2019. We find that the most common functions include activating supporters and exposing state violence. These functions support several of the organizations' core mobilization tasks by providing actors with tools to complement collection action.

The indigenous movement in Ecuador has been among the most successful new social movements in Latin America since the late 1980s. Its success may be attributed to its formulation and persistent advocacy of an alternative to the changing manifestations of the capitalist order-the "plurinational state." This position has organized and motivated the movement for the past 20 years, in the course of which it has gained access to the center of economic policy for a time and more recently has operated with greater autonomy. The struggle for plurinationalism remains at the core of the indigenous movement's approach to the current progressive government of President Rafael Correa and provides a distinctly anticapitalist alternative. Though the new constitution embodies elements of the movement's program, there remain fundamental areas of disagreement on the meaning and realization of the plurinational state. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright holder.]

"Discursive development is fluid and continuous, making it hard to determine the concrete moment of discursive change or innovation. The disruptive moment of the introduction, disappearance or reformulation of a central political concept can allow a closer definition of this moment of change, its context and its direction. The analysis of political concepts within a given discourse can contribute to the definition of discursive actors, specific texts that introduce the concept in question and its trajectory within a social movement or the society as such. This is exemplified in the indigenous movement in Ecuador. This movement underwent a considerable discursive change in the 1970s and 1980s, a renovation that still forms the basis for its central position in national politics today. With this discursive shift, the movement began to understand the indigenous peoples as nationalities with state-like structures that would allow self-determination and give them a right to autonomy. This innovation led to a radical discursive shift with demands for a plurinational and -subsequently- intercultural reorganization of society and state. The new discourse and the political concepts introduced by the movement not only gave it a position to speak from, but also changed the discourse of society and state in Ecuador." (author's abstract)

The canton of Otavalo in the Ecuadorian Sierra has been a stronghold and intellectual cradle of the Ecuadorian indigenous movement. In the year 2000 Mario Conejo Maldonado, who represented the indigenous political movement Pachakutik, was elected as the first indigenous mayor of Otavalo. His administration has enjoyed recognition for its popular participation formula and intercultural project, integrating mestizos and indigenous citizens. In the context of local state reform challenges and the inclusion and recognition of indigenous citizens in the Ecuadorian state model this study approaches a local government led by an indigenous mayor with an intercultural banner. However, the project of ethnic integration in Otavalo has not evolved without complications and conflicts. Social and political divisions in the indigenous population have been reflected since before Conejo was ever elected. Ethnically based tensions in the local indigenous movement have been manifested throughout the period and in 2006 Conejo left Pachakutik and created a new political movement – Minga Intercultural-. The author argues that the rupture in the Otavalo indigenous movement (and local government) can be traced to the intercultural dilemma and difficulties associated with an ethnically defined political movement. Similarly, aspects of the so called "Correa effect" on the indigenous movement at the local level will be approached, since the Otavalo mayor has joined President Rafael Correa's PAIS movement before the local elections of 2009. ; From Exclusion to Government in Ecuador: Indigenous Movement Strategies and Political Power Structures in Otavalo and Cotacachi.