The Territorial resistance as a form of deepening democracy: towards a radical democracy?

Abstract

This article examines territorial resistance to the Proyecto Integral Morelos (PIM) as an experience of democratic deepening from below. Based on a qualitative case study drawing on community documents, press reports, and specialized literature, it argues that community opposition is not merely a defensive response to socio-environmental dispossession, but an active political process that reshapes the boundaries of liberal democracy. Following Chantal Mouffe, the article shows how affected communities kept the conflict in the public arena against state and corporate attempts to frame it as a technical matter, thereby transforming it into a legitimate antagonism grounded in territorial defense. Drawing on Judith Butler, it analyzes how differentially distributed precariousness—particularly affecting women and campesino households—became a source of collective agency and solidarity. Emerging organizational practices—assemblies, collective kitchens, territorial committees, and community radio—operated as everyday spaces of politicization and community-making. The study concludes that these resistances expand democratic horizons by asserting forms of authority, care, and common life that exceed liberal frameworks, configuring a democratization rooted in the defense of land and life.