Introduction: Student movements and political change in contemporary Latin America

The year 2011 with its series of massive episodes of popular mobilisation in Europe, North America and the Arab region, signals a symbolic comeback of students as a political actor and higher education as a locus of contention and dispute. Yet in many Latin American countries, students had mobilised well before the aforementioned events, including those studied in this special issue. Latin American campuses had been protesting against austerity before this very concept was part of the vocabulary of politicians and the media in industrialised economies. The so-called Washington consensus, that emerged in 1989 as a set of policy recommendations aimed at tackling the main problems of Latin American economies (hyperinflation and stagnation or recession), represented a framework endorsed by most countries in the region. (In a way, the Washington consensus represents a functional equivalent for Latin America of the Maastricht treaty (1992) for the EU.) But its success proved temporary and attempts by governments to impose reforms (e.g. the privatisation of public companies, the de-nationalisation of natural resources, the deregulation of labour laws and of many previously protected sectors such as pensions or education) rapidly encountered resistance. Students engaged in successive waves of protest during the 1990s and 2000s, joining urban and rural workers, indigenous groups, and left parties and unions. These struggles deposed presidents and forced new elections, halted projected reforms and/or brought about new political processes that eventually, in some countries, would be known as the ‘pink tide’ or new Latin American left. Therefore, student mobilisations over the last three decades can be interpreted within the context of larger and long-lasting conflicts over democracy and redistribution aggravated by the intransigence of neoliberal policy in the region.