The contributors to Beyond Civil Society argue that the conventional distinction between civic and uncivic protest, and between activism in institutions and in the streets, does not accurately describe the complex interactions of forms and locations of activism characteristic of twenty-first-century Latin America. They show that most contemporary political activism in the region relies upon both confrontational collective action and civic participation at different moments. Operating within fluid, dynamic, and heterogeneous fields of contestation, activists have not been contained by governments or conventional political categories, but rather have overflowed their boundaries, opening new democratic spaces or extending existing ones in the process. These essays offer fresh insight into how the politics of activism, participation, and protest are manifest in Latin America today while providing a new conceptual language and an interpretive framework for examining issues that are critical for the future of the region and beyond.
Contributors. Sonia E. Alvarez, Kiran Asher, Leonardo Avritzer, Gianpaolo Baiocchi, Andrea Cornwall, Graciela DiMarco, Arturo Escobar, Raphael Hoetmer, Benjamin Junge, Luis E. Lander, Agustín Laó-Montes, Margarita López Maya, José Antonio Lucero, Graciela Monteagudo, Amalia Pallares, Jeffrey W. Rubin, Ana Claudia Teixeira, Millie Thayer

Foreword / Arturo Escobar  ix
Preface and Acknowledgments  xiii
Introduction. Interrogating the Civil Society Agenda, Reassessing Uncivic Political Activism / Sonia E. Alvarez, Gianpaolo Baiocchi, Agustín Laó-Montes, Jeffrey W. Rubin, and Millie Thayer  1
Part I. Interrogating the Civil Society Agenda: Reflections on Brazil
1. A Century of Councils: Participatory Budgeting and the Long History of Participation in Brazil / Gianpaolo Baiocchi  27
2. Civil Society in Brazil: From State Autonomy to Political Interdependency / Leonardo Avritzer  45
3. The Making and Unmaking of a New Democratic Space / Andrea Cornwall  63
4. Uncivil Subjects, Uncivil Women: Civic Participation, Ambivalence, and Political Subjectivity among Grassroots Community Leaders in Porto Alegre, Brazil / Benjamin Junge  81
Part II. Mapping Movement Fileds
5. Mapping the Field of Afro-Latin American Politics: In and Out of the Civil Society Agenda / Agustín Laó-Montes  103
6. Social Movement Demands in Argentina and the Constitution of a "Feminist People" / Graciela Di Marco  122
7. Politics by Other Means: Resistance to Neoliberal Politics / Graciela Monteagudo  141
8. The "Gray Zone" Between Movements and Markets: Brazilian Feminists and the International Aid Chain / Millie Thayer  156
Part III. The Nexus of Civic and Uncivic Politics
9. "This is No Longer a Democracy . . .": Thoughts on the Local Referendums on Mining on Peru's Northern Frontier / Raphael Hoetmer  179
10. From Afro-Colombians to Afro-Descendants: The Trajectory of Black Social Movements in Colombia, 1990–2010 / Kiran Asher  199
11. In the Streets and in the Institutions: Movements-in-Democracy and the Rural Women's Movement in Rio Grande Do Sol / Jeffrey W. Rubin  219
12. Refounding the Political: The Struggle for Provincialization in Santa Elena, Ecuador / Amaliea Pallares  238
Part IV. Movements, Regimes, and Refoundations
13. The Counterpoint Between Contention and Civic Collective Action in Venezuela's Recent Democracy / Margarita López Maya and Luis E. Lander  261
14. Brazil: Back to the Streets? / Gianpaolo Baiocchi and Ana Claudia Teixeira  282
15.Monuments of (De) Colonization: Violence, Democracy, and Gray Zones in Bolivia after January 11, 2007 / José Antonio Lucero  296
16 Beyond the Civil Society Agenda? Participation and Practices of Governance, Governability, and Governmentality in Latin America / Sonia E. Alvarez  316
Conclusion. Uncontained Activism / Millie Thayer and Jeffrey W. Rubin  331
References  339
Contributors  369
Index  373