PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD

CATOLICA DEL ECUADOR

INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE

The impact of the 1996-2006 Ecuadorian political crisis,

in the reconstruction of the Ecuadorian political Culture

MATHIAS SEBASTIAS ERAZO VILLAMARIN

FCLL LEAI

9 DE FEBRERO DEL 2017

 The impact of the 1996-2006 Ecuadorian political crisis,
in the reconstruction of the Ecuadorian political Culture

The 1996-2006 Ecuadorian political crisis and the various policies which
were applied by the different governments of this period of time, caused a constant
reconstruction of the countrys political culture. During the years 1996 to 2006,
not only did the Republic of Ecuador go through seven distinct mandates but none
of them were able to finish their entire presidential period of four years. These ten
years of the Ecuadorian history were essential for the reconstruction of this
countrys political culture, which according to Almond and Verba is the
distribution of patterns of orientation among all members of the state towards
political objects and a relevant factor that determines how the future of the states
democracy unfolds. (1963)

The ineptitude which characterized the mandates of the different

politicians during these ten years and the chaotic transitions of mandate from side
to side of the political spectrum, change the peoples perspective of the
government (Lauderbaugh; 2012). They no longer had positive evaluations of the
political authorities but they started questioning their political trust towards
politicians, party identification, and political efficacy. Therefore they still believed
in democratic values but they were disappointed due to the government practices.
(Denk, T. Christensen, H & Bergh, 2015) These critical citizens had a different
approach to the government, they had much more political interest and the willing
to get involved in political affairs.

On February fifth of 1997, during the presidency of Abdala Bucaram leader

of the Ecuadorian Roldosist Party, syndicates, business groups, social
organizations and pressure groups, such as El Frente Unido de Trabajadores,
(FUT) CONAIE, El Movimiento Poltico Femenino, among others, protested in
both conventional and nonconventional activities, being the former ones, the most
practiced. Once the military withdraw its support from the government and former
President Bucaram was considered mentally incapable of govern by the
Ecuadorian Congress, he was impeached and sent into exile in Panama
(Lauderbaugh; 2012). In this example, the critical role played by the people had
positive effects on the following years but most importantly on the countrys
democracy.

After being elected as President of the Republic in 1997 by the National

Congress, public institution where he first was president, Fabian Alarcon, member
of the party: (FRA) Alfarist Radical Front; brought a fragile period of calm to the
country. (Echeverria; 2006) Even though this did not solve the political crisis in
Ecuador, it led to the development of a different political subculture among people,
called stealth citizens. This kind of actors presented a higher level of trust in the
political actors and their competence of represent them. On the other hand, though
stealth citizens were not exactly glad with the decisions of the Alarcons mandate,
they had a positive orientation towards it, even if this means that they must be less
involved on the countrys political affairs. (Hibbing, Theism-Morse; 2002)

On the elections of 1998, the overwhelming number of candidates for the

presidency brought a sense of hope to the countrys political culture.
Unfortunately, people were not prepared for what was going to become one of the
toughest moments of the Ecuadorian history. Jamil Mahuad, member of the party,
Popular Democracy, (DP) won the elections and started his mandate, which had
to deal with the economical rescission of the oil price drop. (Lauderbaugh; 2012)
At that time the political culture was dominated by what Almond and Verba (1965)
defined as disenchanted citizens. This kind of political subculture have a negative
view towards the political system, however, they also tend to have a passive role
on the political participation. Unlike the critical citizens, the disenchanted ones do
not believe that their participation have vast importance on the political affairs.

Eventually, after former President Mahuad had applied some of his

policies, the cost of various services, like electricity, fossil fuels and public
transportation, increased exorbitantly. Three of the biggest banks filed for
bankruptcy and finally the Feriado Bancario came. Most of the peoples savings
end up in the pockets of bank owners and directors, who then left the country.
Massive immigration, high degrees of unemployment and inflation and poverty
among middle and low income citizens, were the consequences of the Feriado
Bancario. (Larrea, 2004) According to Hay (2007) it is not possible to have both
disenchanted and critical citizens living in a society, due to the fact that the
disenchantment of people, caused by the government ineptitude and its poor
decision-making process, might represent a serious trial to the legitimacy and
stability of the democratic system. Therefore, it is the critical citizens that raised
again, dominating the political culture during this period.

Despite the declaration of emergency state and the mobilization of 30,000

military troops in order to assure the law and order, the military forces did no
longer support former President Mahuads mandate. This was the reason why on
January fifteenth, critical citizens, this time the CONAIE (Ecuadorians Indigenous
Nationalities Confederation) went all the way to the capital to protest. It was a
matter of time for other pressure groups to join them and so they did. Five days
later employees from the company Petroecuador, student groups and syndicates
had the administrative buildings surrounded. The critical citizens action was ones
again an essential actor of the history of Ecuador. (Lauderbaugh; 2012)

On the following years, the Ecuadorian political culture has a similar

approach with the presidency of Gustavo Noboa, who was the former Vice-
president in the mandate of Mahuad who in the year 2000 asked for political
asylum to Chilean authorities. In order to increase his legitimacy, former President
Gustavo Noboa revealed corruption cases and promised accountability of his
mandate to the people. Similar measures were taken by the government of Fabian
Alarcon, who also declared corruption actions that took place on the presidency of
Bucaram, it is worth say that one can appreciate this measures in the 2007
presidency of Alfredo Palacios as well. (Echeverria; 2006) On the other hand the
mandate of Lucio Gutierrez had similarities with the one of Bucaram, where the
political crisis consequences were the trigger of the raising of critical citizens, that
with the name of Los Forajidos, (the outlaws) wrote a new period of the
Ecuadorian politics.

The1996-2006 Ecuadorian political crisis had a great impact on the values

and beliefs that the people adopted at that specific period of time. The reckless and
inefficient governments, along with their harmful decisions for the country,
encouraged the Ecuadorian civil society to reconstruct their way to participate and
developed an additional characteristic that was not necessary used before, critical
thinking. The impact of the similar patterns that the Ecuadorian political history
went through from 1996 to 2006, show that in times of crisis the political culture
of Ecuador can be extremely volatile and how transcendental was its
reconstruction during the period of 1996 to 2006.

References

Books:

Tribunal Supremo Electoral. (1981) Principios Ideologicos y Planes de Gobierno,

de los partidos polticos de la Repblica del Ecuador. Quito, Ecuador:
Editorial Estatal.

Echeverria, J. (2006) El Desafio Constitucional, crisis institucional y proceso

politico en el Ecuador. Quito, Ecuador. Ediciones ABYA-YALA.

Lauderbaugh, G. (2012) Historia Politica del Ecuador. Quito Ecuador. Editorial

CODEU.

Araujo, M. (1998) Gobernabilidad Durante la Crisis y Politicas de Ajustes. Quito,

Ecuador. Editorial CORDES

E-books:

Almond, G. Verba, S. (1963) The civic culturepolitical attitudes and democracy

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Almond, G. Verba, S. (1965) Toronto: Little, Brown and Company. Retrieved

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Denk, T. Christensen, H & Bergh, D. (2015) The Composition of Political

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Hibbing, J. Theiss-Morse E. (2002) Stealth democracyAmericans beliefs about

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