The limits to growth of buen vivir socialism: Ecuador’s alternative development model from 2007 to 2017

Abstract

In 2006, the political coalition Alianza PAÍS promoted a “Citizen’s Revolution” in Ecuador that would put an end to neoliberal policies and lead the country to “buen vivir”. However, the coalition’s arrival to the government and the negotiations of the 2008 Constitution generated fractures and splits within the party. The buen vivir was divided into three trends: Indianist, environmentalist and socialist. The socialist trend became the state representative, although it had huge controversies with the other two trends because it opted for a new post-neoliberal development model, while the indianists and ecologists rejected the continuity of the developmentalist models. This article presents the main characteristics of the three trends of buen vivir. In addition, based on the work The Limits to Growth and through the analysis of socio-economic and environmental indicators, it is shown how the socialist model of buen vivir (2007-2017) was an unsustainable model in the medium and long term.