The impact of development and the proposal of Good Living from Ecuador´s original peoples

Abstract

The implementation of development in Ecuador has been a true failure and has caused a negative impact, especially on native and Afro-descendant peoples whose high price would be their disappearance as peoples. In a rebellious way, from the heart of the original peoples, the proposal of Sumak Kawsay, translated into English as Good Living, arises as a life project and as an alternative to development. It becomes necessary, then, to analyze the implementation of development in Ecuador and its impacts, and in view of this, assess the real meaning of the Sumak Kawsay proposal as a medium and long-term life project for all societies. In this essay, we make a brief tour of the economic history of Ecuador, we locate some causes of its underdevelopment and its eternal dependence on “developed” countries. We succinctly review the original concept of Sumak Kawsay as a proposal for life and an alternative to development and we end up describing how the constitutionalized Good Living is not the Sumak Kawsay originally proposed by the original peoples.