Failure of a pan-Mayan Party? Explaining Mayan Political Participation in Guatemala

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, indigenous groups across Latin America have gained significant ground in their respective countries’ national politics. Factors relating to institutional reforms and effective populist appeals have created several successful national indigenous parties in Bolivia and Ecuador in particular. Guatemala is a case that many scholars are puzzled by because it shares many similarities of the Ecuadorian and Bolivian political and ethnic landscapes, but has not developed a national indigenous party. The research pertaining to the rise of Latin American indigenous parties can be understood in two prominent groups. Institutionalists point to changes in electoral rules as a determining factor. In addition, institutionalists concentrate on nationwide politics, not local politics. The second group, ethnopopulists, explain that the rise of indigenous parties is due to these parties making indigenous and populist claims without alienating the non-indigenous population. However, neither of these approaches adequately addresses this so-called “failure” of the Maya in Guatemala to form a pan-Mayan party. This thesis challenges both of these narratives by focusing on Mayan participation at the local level. I argue that traditional institutions at the city/village level influence the Mayan population to participate locally. Additionally, divisions within the Mayan community prevent a level of unity necessary to build a political party to run at the national level. Although I question the limitations of these two approaches, I find it unlikely a pan-Mayan will form in the foreseeable future due to the Mayas preference to participate solely at the local level