Squatters and the Politics of Marginality in Uruguay (Latin American Political Economy)

This book unveils the political economy of land squatting in a third world city, Montevideo, in Uruguay. It focuses on the effects of democratization on the mobilization of the poorest as well as on the role played by different types of brokers, from radical Catholic priests to local leaders embedded in political networks. Through a multi-method endeavour that combines ethnography, historical sources, and quantitative time series, the author reconstructs the history of the informal city since the late 1940s to the present. From a social movements/contentious politics perspective, the book challenges the assumption that socioeconomic factors such as poverty were the only causes triggering land squatting. Front Matter....Pages i-xv Introduction....Pages 1-17 The Case of Montevideo....Pages 19-50 The Cycle of Land Invasions....Pages 51-82 Accretion Invasions. A Story of an Unlikely Contention (1979–1990)....Pages 83-108 Planned Squatting and Politics....Pages 109-138 Politics on the Ground....Pages 139-166 Conclusion....Pages 167-175 Back Matter....Pages 177-224 María José Álvarez-rivadulla. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.