Ten theses concerning social conflict in Latin America

Conflict in the countries of Latin America presents common features: platforms of exclusion and chronic inequalities that are under challenge from citizens; complex struggles relating these inequalities with their number and intensity; a combination of social protests that are manifested both at the national level and at the general cultural level; practical rationalities in the tensions arising from social reproduction1 that coexist with demands for greater institutional efficiency and effectiveness and with systemic cultural conflicts. Other common factors are States that are omnipresent in all spheres of conflict but have only a limited ability to process them, and societies with fragmented conflicts; new public spaces where tensions are represented in a contradictory way, and conflicts that have been moving on to information and communication networks, with multiplier effects in the new environments where power is increasingly exercised. There is increased social complexity related to political systems and States with limited management capabilities. The situations and scenarios in prospect are diverse and options remain open.