SpringerLink
Log in

Indigenous Political Representation in Guatemala

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Indigenous Political Representation in Latin America

Abstract

Guatemala is a strongly multicultural country. According to different estimations, indigenous people represent among the 41% and 60% of the total population. However, the State has been traditionally monocultural and has historically denied indigenous rights. The emergence of the indigenous movements at the end of the 1980s started to give them visibility, but it is the Guatemalan Peace Accord which sets up the institutional design to regulate indigenous political participation. Nevertheless, proportionate political representation is still far from reality: indigenous representatives hardly exceed a 10% presence in the National Congress. Furthermore, an indigenous political agenda has not been consolidated either. In order to describe the historical indigenous participation and its development over the last decades, this chapter analyzes the traditional role played by native groups in politics, the impact of the Guatemalan Peace Accord in the emergence of indigenous political parties, and the recognition of rights and forms of indigenous political participation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
EUR 29.95
Price includes VAT (Germany)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
EUR 106.99
Price includes VAT (Germany)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
EUR 139.09
Price includes VAT (Germany)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free ship** worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adams, R. N. (1994). A report on the political status of the Guatemalan Maya. In D. Lee Van Cott (Ed.), Indigenous peoples and democracy in Latin America (pp. 155–186). St. Martin’s Press/Inter-American Dialogue.

    Google Scholar 

  • Artiga, A. (2000). Partidos políticos y sistemas de partidos en Centroamérica. Fundemo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ba Tiul, M. (2007). El movimiento WINAQ en el escenario político actual. El observador electoral, 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bastos, S. (2009). La movilización maya en Guatemala: exigiendo derechos y construyendo multiculturalidad en un contexto postconflicto. Cahiers des Amériques Latines, 60, 41–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bastos, S., & Camus, M. (2003). El movimiento maya en perspectiva: Texto para reflexión y debate. FLACSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bastos, S., & Cumes, A. (2007). Mayanización y vida cotidiana: La ideología multicultural en la sociedad guatemalteca. FLACSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birnir, J. K. (2006). Ethnicity and electoral politics. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burguete, A. (2007). Cumbres indígenas en América Latina. Resistencia y autonomía. Memoria, 220, 38–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casaus Arzú, M. E. (2007). Reformulating the Guatemalan state: The role of Maya intellectuals and civil society discourse. Social Analysis, 51(2), 148–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chamarbagwala, R., & Moran, H. (2010). The legacy of civil war: Post-war schooling inequality in Guatemala. Working paper presented at the fifiteenth meeting of the LACEA/IADB/WB/UNDP research network on inequality and poverty (NIP).

    Google Scholar 

  • ENCOVI. (2014). https://www.ine.gob.gt/estadisticasine/index.php/usuario/encovi

  • ENVOCI. (2018). https://www.ine.gob.gt/estadisticasine/index.php/usuario/encovi

  • Fulmer, A., Godoy, A., & Neff, P. (2008). Indigenous rights, resistance and the law: Lesson from a Guatemalan min. Latin American Politics and Society, 50(4), 91–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • García Díaz, F., Alcántara, M., Martí i Puig, S., Pásara, L., & Carrillo, F. (2005). Perfil de gobernabilidad de Guatemala. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gauster, S., & Ryan Isakson, S. (2007). Eliminating market distortions, perpetuating rural inequality: An evaluation of market-assisted land reform in Guatemala. Third World Quarterly, 28(8), 1519–1536.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillooly, S. N. (2019). Indigenous social movements and political institutionalization: A comparative case study. Politics Groups and Identities, 8, 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gulden, T. R. (2002). Spatial and temporal patterns in civil violence: Guatemala 1977-1988. Politics and the Life Sciences, 21, 26–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hale, C. (2004). El protagonismo indígena, las políticas estatales y el nuevo racismo en la época del “indio permitido”. International Conference of MINGUA: “Construyendo la paz: Guatemala desde un enfoque comparado”.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iturralde, D. (2007). La inclusión de los Pueblos Indígenas en los Partidos Políticos. Organización de los Estados Americanos, 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jan, M. R. (2005). Rompiendo mitos y barreras. La participación indígena en los procesos electorales en Guatemala. Trace. Travaux et reserches dans les Amériques du Centre, 48, 72–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnston, B. R., & Slymovics, S. (2009). Waging war, making peace: Reparations and human rights. Left Coast Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Bot, Y., Bigorra, N., & Antoniatr, M. (1995). La guerra en tierras mayas: comunidad, violencia y modernidad en Guatemala (1970–1992). Fondo de Cultura Económica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martí i Puig, S. (2008). Las razones de presencia y éxito de los partidos étnicos en América Latina: los casos de Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, México, Nicaragua y Perú. Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 4, 675–724.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, P. L. (2003). The globalization of contentious politics: The Amazonian indigenous rights movement. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathieu, H. L., & Lazzari, M. (2005). Algunas consideraciones sobre la participación política indígena en Guatemala. Revista IIDH, 42, 327–348.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montejo, V. (2002). The multiplicity of Mayan voices: Mayan leadership and the politics of self-representation. In Indigenous movements, self-representation, and the state in Latin America (pp. 123–148). University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montejo, V. (2005). Maya intellectual renaissance: Indentity, representation and leadership. University of Texas Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • National Democratic Institute. (2020). https://www.ndi.org/latin-america-and-caribbean/guatemala

  • Nelson, D. (1999). A finger in the wound: Body politics in quincentennial Guatemala. University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nevitte, N., Cruz, J., & Estok, M. (2008). Barriers to electoral participation in Guatemala: Diagnostic of 4 municipalities. Facultad Latinoamericana para las Ciencias Sociales.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pacari, N. (2007). Hacia una nueva lectura del indigenismo: claves de interpretación para el primer mundo. Unpublished paper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pallister, K. (2013). Why no Mayan party? Indigenous movements and national politics in Guatemala. Latin American Politics and Society, 55(3), 117–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perera, V., & Chauche, D. (1995). Unfinished conquest: The Guatemalan tragedy. University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Popkin, M. (1996). Guatemala’s National Reconciliation law: Combating impunity or continuing it? Revista Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos, 24, 173.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rull, M. (2012). Los comités cívicos: primeras agrupaciones políticas indígenas de Guatema. In XV Encuentro de Latinoamericanistas Españoles (pp. 1507–1524). Trama editorial; CEEIB.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sáenz de Tejada, R. (2005). Elecciones, participación política y pueblo maya en Guatemala. Universidad Rafael Landívar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salvesen, H. (2002). Guatemala: Five years after the peace accords. The challenges of implementing peace. In Report for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. International Peace Research Institute (PRIO).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez, O. (2009). Party non-systems: A conceptual innovation. Party Politics, 15(4), 487–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sieder, R. (2006). El derecho indígena y la globalización legal en la posguerra guatemalteca. Alteridades, 16(31), 23–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sieder, R. (2007). The judiciary and indigenous rights in Guatemala. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 5(2), 211–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sieder, R., & Witchell, J. (2001). Advancing indigenous claims through the law: Reflections on the Guatemalan peace process. In J. Cowan, M. B. Dembour, & R. Wilson (Eds.), Culture and rights: Anthropological perspectives (pp. 201–226). Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Spence, J., & Vickers, G. (1998). Promise and reality: Implementation of the Guatemalan peace accords. Hemisphere Initiatives.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanley, W., & Holiday, D. (2000). Everyone participates, no one is responsible: Peace implementation in Guatemala. Unpublished manuscript, Stanford, Calif.

    Google Scholar 

  • The National Employment and Income Survey. (2014). http://ghdx.healthdata.org/record/guatemala-national-income-and-employment-survey-2014-april

  • Tzquital, E., Ixchiú, P., & Tiú, R. (2002). Alcaldes comunales de Totonicapán. Secretaría de Coordinación de la Presidencia-Comisión de la Unión Europea.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warren, K. B. (1998). Indigenous movements and their critics: Pan-Maya activism in Guatemala. Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warren, K. B. (2001). Pan-Mayanism and the Guatemalan peace process. In C. ChaseDunn, S. Jonas, & N. Amaro (Eds.), Globalization on the ground: Postbellum Guatemalan democracy and development (pp. 145–166). Rowman and Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank Database. (2019). https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/guatemala

  • Yagenova, S. V. (2006). La protesta social en Guatemala. Una aproximación a los actores, demandas, formas de despliegue territorial, límites y alcances. FLACSO Guatemala.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zur, J. (1994). The psychological impact of impunity. Anthropology Today, 10(3), 12–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Mélany Barragán

Authors
  1. Mélany Barragán
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mélany Barragán .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Political Science (IPOL), University of Brasília, Brasilia, Brasília, Brazil

    Adrian Albala

  2. El Colegio Mexiquense, Zinacantepec, Estado de México, Mexico

    Alejandro Natal

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Barragán, M. (2023). Indigenous Political Representation in Guatemala. In: Albala, A., Natal, A. (eds) Indigenous Political Representation in Latin America. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33914-1_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33914-1_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-33913-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-33914-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation