Promotion of contentious agency as a rewarding movement strategy: evidence from the MST-paper industry conflicts in Brazil

Abstract

The recent scholarship on social movement outcomes has called for explanations about how movements influence economic outcomes. This article demonstrates in practice how a dynamic and relational approach, coupled with a Bourdieuian analysis of social, symbolic, and territorial space, can be utilized in explaining the influence of movements in contentious politics around investment projects. Based on participant observation and comparison across the Brazilian Landless Movement (MST) groups in areas of paper industry expansion, I assess the different movement strategies and their influence on pulp project outcomes. I reinterpret the ideal 'MST model' as constructed by specific strategies promoting contentious agency: organizing and politicizing, campaigning by heterodox framing, protesting, networking, and embedded autonomy vis-à-vis the state. A Qualitative Comparative Analysis comparing the expansion of 13 pulp holdings between 2004-2008 shows how these strategies influence investment pace. When both contentious and conventional strategies were used, movements managed to slow pulpwood plantation expansion.

Rethinking Investment Dynamics: An Alternative Framework of the Global Land Rush

“…According to Wolford (2010b), INCRA's weak technical capacity and lack of resources have created an opportunity for MST and similar civil society organizations to dispute and shape the terms of Brazilian agrarian policies. Although INCRA's weakness may only partly explain the rise of civil society regulation (Kröger 2011), there is no doubt that MST has played a critical role in shaping and halting these land deals. Land expansions have occurred at slower rates, often with more just terms, or been cancelled altogether.…”

“…In other cases of MST protest, police wearing full riot gear have broken up protestors' camps. Had the activists not removed roadblocks, the military may have intervened, with potentially violent consequences (Kröger, 2011). Since peaceful resolution of the problem is far from guaranteed, analysis of civil society regulation must take into account the cost-benefit scenarios inherent in citizens' activism.…”

“…In 2004 activists from Brazil's landless movement MST uprooted several hectares of commercially planted eucalyptus and staged an occupation of the land. Kröger (2011) notes that the government "response to the occupation and its results were swift" (p. 437. The government soon gave the MST 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) in settlement promises and ordered Veracel to uproot an additional 47,000 hectares (116,000 acres).…”

“…Slowing the Veracel project was only one of MST's many successes. Throughout the region, their protests have slowed or terminated several plantation expansion projects that would have infringed upon agricultural lands with varying degrees of cultivation (Kröger, 2011).…”

“…The Brazilian Land Reform Institute (INCRA) is weak and grossly underfunded (Kröger, 2011;Kröger & Nylund, 2011;Wolford, 2010b). Moreover, roughly half of all land in Brazil is not registered with the agency (Reydon & Fernandes, 2013).…”