Preface: The dynamics between society and State in the andean region

Abstract

The countries of the Andean region experience an exceptional political process. Some academics have described this regional scenario as a critical juncture, as “one historical cycle ends and another opens, in which the actions and omissions of the actors turn out to have spaces and possibilities of overcoming structural conditioning, and whose outcome will have important consequences medium and long term ”(Tanaka, 2009, p. 11). We would find ourselves in the midst of a storm where the decisions of the crew would be decisive for the fate of the boat. Andean countries, such as Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, have been targets of intensive neoliberal reforms that have removed the foundations of their political systems, and activated a wave of protests and mobilizations from the citizen quarries. The limitations of the market centric matrix undermined the prevailing political order, motivating the crisis of the traditional parties and allowing the positioning of new (and not so new) social demands, through disruptive actions against the regime.