Chapter 8 acts as a summary of the four eras of Ecuador’s recent history and the relative strengths of the various actors within the country’s environmental movement. Ecuador’s early democracy was severely weakened by its crippling debt and the decade that the country had spent under the rule of an exploitative military dictatorship. The economy of Ecuador became highly reliant on the Global North due to its trade relationships and its debts to international banking organizations like the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (Maidenberg, February 13, 2019). The Neoliberal boom of the late 1980’s and 1990’s saw increasing investment in the environmental movement by Eco-Imperialists from the Global North, leading to their Eco-Dependent’s spreading their political influence. A variety of changes in the world brought about the Neoliberal bust Ecuador experienced from 2000 to 2006, resulting in the collapse of international funding and many Eco-Dependent NGOs. This falling in international influence gave many Eco-Resisters their chance to rise to prominence within the environmental movement and force social issues to become integral to the movement. While the state remained weak and heavily reliant on economic synthesis during these eras, its strength would increase dramatically with the election of Rafael Correa in 2008. Correa would begin to reject the neoliberal economic model and wide-scale support for ecological synthesis was gaining momentum. However, mounting economic pressure would cause Correa to abandon many of his environmental causes in favor of expanding extraction and a policy of managed scarcity. From the recent history of Ecuador and its environmental movement, Lewis was able to draw several hypotheses about the relationship between the strength of the state and the four categories of environmental groups. There are four hypothesis that I believe are the most important among the listed 16, and they can be split between when the state is weak and when it is strong. With a weakened state, the hypotheses “funded and unfunded environmental organizations will diverge on goals and tactics” and “the development trajectory will remain unchanged as long as transnational funders are engaged in the movement” are the most important. These two hypotheses explain why a weak state will never be able to accomplish breaking away from traditional development and creating a new system. The influence wielded by wealthier countries who benefit from the status quo will be expressed through their Eco-Dependent allies, drowning out the desires of the smaller and more radical local Eco-Resisters. As the state gains in strength, “the state will limit environmental movement activity of both Eco-Dependents and Eco-Resisters” and “Eco-Resisters have the potential to shift the state toward an alternative trajectory, but that possibility depends on the degree to which the state limits or empowers them” become the most important hypotheses. With the government relying on the standard economic model to maintain its power and support, its desire for radical change will be highly limited and will make efforts to further limit the influence of foreign organizations. In order for the world to see its first example of ecological synthesis, it will take a strong state that has the power to reject the current neoliberal economic trajectories while also possessing a dedication to political freedoms that allow the citizens to implement the changes they desire. Overall, I found Ecuador’s Environmental Revolutions to an enjoyable and eye-opening read. I particularly enjoyed reading about the various Eco-Resister movements that arose through out the four eras analyzed in the book. The analyses of their causes and actions reinforced my belief that real political change will only arise from the movements created by the average citizen, not international lobbying groups, and it was nice to that Lewis arrived at the same conclusion at the end. The only complaint I have with the book is how often some arguments and topics are repeated. Chapter 8 would have been a more interesting read if Lewis had explained her hypotheses more and focused less on re-summarizing the last four chapters. I look forward to being able to connect what I have learned from this book to the future readings.
Maidenberg, M. (2019, February 13). Ecuador, IMF Launch Formal Talks on Possible Financial Bailout. Retrieved September 29, 2019, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/ecuador-imf-launch-formal-talks-on-possible-financial-bailout-11550081894.