Implementing indigenous paradigms: the paradoxes of actualizing Sumak Kawsay

Abstract In this paper, I use the Quechan indigenous concept of sumak kawsay and its effects on the politics and policy of the South American nation of Ecuador to aid public administration in its efforts toward developing knowledge that can foster improvements in human wellbeing. The concept of sumak kawsay, which seeks to define the “good life” for human beings, can provide value for public administration as it seeks new ways to conceptualize and actualize human wellbeing in the processes of governance and public policy. But implementing sumak kawsay and similar alternative paradigms may require governments and jurisdictions to grapple with certain paradoxes of governance, especially the tension between the value of public participation and the need for administrative autonomy for the achievement of key policy objectives.