Strength in Small Numbers: Indigenous Political Participation in Latin America

How do Indigenous peoples across Latin America participate in politics and what explains it? More than 500 Indigenous groups have experienced repression and attempts at erasure. Still, Indigenous communities persist and are politically active. We argue that structural and institutional factors within democracy do not fully explain Indigenous political engagement: they miss important dynamics within communities, where activism is often locally focused, rooted in community organizations, and focused on high-salience issues. Using the AmericasBarometer survey (17 countries, 2004–2019) we show that Indigenous people vote at equal levels to other citizens, and protest, contact government, join parties, campaign, and discuss politics more than non-Indigenous people. Variation in voting can be partially explained by Indigenous population size, but Indigenous people tend to participate at high levels in local and non-voting political activities regardless of population size. Associational participation is one mechanism that helps shape other diverse forms of Indigenous political action.