Mapuche Protest, Environmental Conflict and Social Movement Linkage in Chile

This article chronicles the promise and limitations of social movement networks as mechanisms of political voice in Mapuche Chile. Although protest has largely fallen from favour in post-authoritarian Chile, environmental conflicts have shaken the southern territories of the Mapuche Indians since redemocratisation. State promises of indigenous recognition and state access have clashed headlong with ambitious regional development priorities in hydropower and forestry. To resolve claims of injustice over ancestral land and resource rights, Mapuche leaders have forged sophisticated links with environmental organisations, human rights activists, scholars and other indigenous groups. Linkage politics in Chile presents a vital test of civil society development and Latin American democratic consolidation.