Particularities of Democracy, Multiculturalism and Environmentalism in the Two Progressive Cycles of Latin America and the Caribbean, 1998-2022

Abstract

This article problematizes the institutional and critical theoretical perspectives that emerged in Latin America and the Caribbean in the era of progressive governments around the issue of democracy and its articulation with culturalism and environmentalism. In recent years these issues have regained importance, since eco-territorial movements with their struggles for the self-determination of peoples and around the defense of the environment have placed new demands on national States. Based on a qualitative exercise, linked to critical theory, particularly Latin American theory, the text adjusts to a chronological division into two cycles that obey singular patterns: the first progressive cycle between 1998 and 2014, and the second cycle from 2015 to 2022, limited to a balance of the relationship between progressive governments and social movements, from the continuity of extractivist state practices and the resistance itself that embody multiculturalism and environmentalism. It is concluded that the dispute for democracy is reflected in the theoretical constructions articulated to environmentalism and multiculturalism, in the proposals of social movements and in the obstacles that democratic processes and progressive governments must face.