The Globalization of Contentious Politics

The Amazonian Indigenous Rights Movement

This dissertation argues that Amazonian indigenous peoples organized via transnational networks due to the domestic blockages presented to them in their respective countires. Due to these blockages and the growing number of transnational political opportunity structures, such as national and international non-govermental organizations, multi-lateral development banks, and multinational corporation, indigenous peoples mobilized through transnational advocacy networks and eventually formed transnational social movement organizations. Through a comparative-historical analysis of five Ecuadorian Amazonian indigenous organizations, this work illustrates the processes of transnational collective action and its outcomes.