Indians, Oil and Politics - A Recent History of Ecuador

"Indians, Politics and Oil" focuses on the fall of two democratically elected regimes, but begin by placing them in the perspective of thirty years of dynamic change and transformation launched in 1967 by the discovery of oil in the Amazon. After the first barrel of crude was exported five years later, forces were set in motion that continue to reshape Ecuador's social, economic, and political landscape. The examination shows how increasingly interrelated are politics, economics, culture, the environment, finance, diplomacy, and more, not only within Ecuador but also on a global level. Any one of these topics cannot be grasped without looking at the others, and they must all be tied together for an understanding unobtainable by looking at only one factor. Among the main topics are the broad and deep impacts of oil; extraordinarily rapid, uneven, and inequitable economic development; so called modernization; and dependency on foreign markets and international lenders. It also takes up deficits, burdensome foreign debt, the expansion and contraction of state spending and programs, rising popular demands, intense social conflict, and the emergence of the Indian movement. It deals as well with continued political fragmentation, near constant corruption, the looming presence of the military as final arbiter in the nation's politics, and the powerful impact of U.S. policy on Ecuador's affairs.