It is exceedingly rare to encounter an agency-oriented account of indigenous politics – most scholars in the field proceed from either an institutionalist or structuralist perspective – yet this is exactly what Lisa M. Glidden sets out to create in Mobilizing Ethnic Identity in the Andes. Based on the cases of Ecuador and Peru, her study seeks to demonstrate that ethnic identification and mobilisation are a political choice. Indigenous groups decide to mobilise along ethnic lines based on rational, strategic calculations. The approach draws on ‘thick’ rational choice explanations that incorporate notions of dignity and self-esteem (p. 3). The study identifies four key mechanisms that explain why ethnic identities have become mobilised in contemporary Ecuador but not Peru: the politicisation of identity; attribution of opportunity or threat; certification by outside actors; and brokerage by entrepreneurs. In so doing, the book's goal is to advance a relational account of social movement dynamics.

Glidden's approach serves as a breath of fresh air for the well-trodden terrain of Ecuador and Peru. The literature offers a number of competing explanations for the lack of a nationally visible indigenous movement in Peru, including the repression of indigenous groups during the country's decade-long war with the Sendero Luminoso guerrilla movement, the cultural and geographical distance of the nation's coastal capital from indigenous groups, and the country's historic pattern of popular political incorporation. In contrast, Glidden proposes that the ability of movement entrepreneurs or brokers to frame an indigenous identity in highland Peru was constrained by outside actors’ attempts to define and circumscribe indigenous identity over the course of the twentieth century and by the successful mobilisation of class identities in the country. In short, the author argues that Peruvian indigenous movement activists found themselves working with an empty toolkit (p. 68).

The central theoretical contribution of the study is its concept of identity brokerage. As Glidden points out, the contentious politics literature is strong on explaining movement emergence but weak on explaining movement identity. Given the region's history of oppression and racism against its indigenous peoples, why would indigenous peoples privilege their ethnic identity (p. 10)? The answer, according to Glidden, lies in the capacity of brokers to convince potential movement members of the utility of promoting indigenous identity as their public identity. To do so, brokers can play on meaningful symbols and engage in consciousness-raising activities among potential members. They can frame a number of issues as threats to group well-being, such as cultural loss and material poverty. They can seek the validation or endorsement of indigenous identity by some sort of outside, authoritative source. And they can link together previously unconnected sites, such as communities to one another or indigenous groups to the political system (pp. 13–18). Based on interview data and archival research carried out in the two countries, the author finds that movement brokers in highland Ecuador were far more effective in their framing work than their counterparts in highland Peru.

Mobilizing Ethnic Identity in the Andes is organised by sub-region. Chapter 1 operationalises the mechanisms of identity formation and mobilisation. Chapters 2 and 3 present the empirical evidence for the cases of highland Ecuador and Peru respectively. In what is perhaps the biggest substantive contribution of the study, chapter 4 examines the Amazon region in both Ecuador and Peru. Given that ethnic identities have historically had greater salience in the Amazon, the chapter focuses more on ethnic mobilisation. The case of the Zápara people of Ecuador provides a clear example of how a perceived threat, in the form of dwindling numbers of Zápara speakers, and certification by an outside actor, in this case recognition by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), led to ethnic mobilisation and the revitalisation of the Zápara nation (pp. 89–93). The book concludes with a brief discussion of the applicability of the four causal mechanisms of the study to other potential cases of ethnic mobilisation, most notably the Quebecois separatist movement in Canada and the Roma in Eastern Europe.

Glidden's study, while refreshing in its originality, suffers from limitations that are typical of agency-oriented explanations of social change based on leadership, timing and other contingencies. There is an element of tautology present. For instance, the strong presence of an indigenous movement in Ecuador is largely taken as proof of the success of movement brokers in that country. Without fully accounting for the structural and institutional constraints on collective action and identity formation, statements such as ‘More important than the presence of opportunities though is the presence of activists, entrepreneurs and brokers with the capacity to see and seize those opportunities’ (p. 53) are not entirely convincing. The greater number of causal mechanisms than cases provides insufficient analytical leverage for determining which variables are most central to explaining the politicisation of ethnic identities. Nonetheless, the book does an admirable job of addressing an important lacuna in the indigenous politics literature and of making a first cut at identifying the mechanisms at play in identity formation.