What social movements ask for, and how they ask for it: Strategic claiming and framing, and the successes and failures of indigenous movements in Latin America

Whether social movements can make a difference remains a perennial question of social movement scholarship. This thesis aims to make a contribution to this debate by examining the contentious collective action of indigenous people(s) in Latin America. This has the potential to enrich both the Latin American scholarship on indigenous politics, which often takes the impact of indigenous movements for granted, and the social movement scholarship on outcomes, which seems to increasingly question whether protest can have any direct impact at all. This thesis suggests that neither approach is adequate and that factors under the control of indigenous movements themselves can lead to positive outcomes. The choice of tactics, the nature of claims and the way in which they are framed, play a role, both directly and in interaction with contextual variables. Taking into account movementsâ strategic claiming and framing is thus crucial for understanding social movement outcomes. Few studies have been able to show the effect of framing on movement outcomes; partially at least this is because the claiming (what) and framing (how) of social movements have not been distinguished well within framing theories. To have an impact, movements need to be able to impose material and symbolic costs on their targets that exceed the cost that meeting their demand would present. This can be done through creating enough materially costly disruptionâsuch as by using roadblocks or sustaining mobilisationâand imposing enough symbolic costsâsuch as making claims framed in a way that resonates with the agendas and discourses of their targets, as well as the public. Overall, this work thus suggests that despite the empirical support for the thesis that social movements tend to rely on political opportunities for securing desired outcomes, this is not inconsistent with the fact that social movements can succeed even in unfavourable political conditions. In the latter situation, if protest can impose a high enough combination of both material and symbolic costs, it can indeed matter.