Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T22:34:57.365Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Backlash Reconsidered: Neoliberalism and Popular Mobilization in Bolivia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Håvard Haarstad  and
Vibeke Andersson
Håvard Haarstad
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and the Poverty Studies and Research Initiative at the University of Bergen. Havard.Haarstad@geog.uib.no
Vibeke Andersson
Affiliation:
Aalborg University, Denmark. van@ihis.aau.dk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article argues that the common narrative of a Bolivian backlash against neoliberalism should be reconsidered in light of the continuities and mutual constraints between popular mobilization and neoliberal policy reforms. The study draws on literature that conceptualizes neoliberalism as a particular construction of state and social forms; but unlike those works, it includes an analysis of International Monetary Fund policy shifts to understand how popular mobilization constrains policy implementation. Responding to popular mobilization between 1985 and 2006, the IMF came to accept divergence from orthodox policy in order to encourage political stability. The government of Evo Morales and the IMF are mutually constrained by concern for the investment climate. This study further advocates that analysts probe beyond simple binary divisions between “neoliberalism” and “alternatives” and look more seriously for pragmatic strategies for negotiating neoliberal spaces.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , Winter 2009 , pp. 1 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albó, Xavier, and Barnadas, Josep. 1990. Cara India y campesina de nuestra historia. La Paz : Unitas-CIPCA.Google Scholar
Albó, Xavier, Libermann, Kitula, Godínez, Armando, and Pifarre, Francisco. 1990. Para comprender las culturas rurales en Bolivia. La Paz : Ministerio de Educación y Cultura/CIPCA/UNICEF.Google Scholar
Andolina, Robert, Radcliffe, Sarah, and Laurie, Nina. 2005. Development and Culture: Transnational Identity Making in Bolivia. Political Geography 24, 6: 678–702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antezana, Luis Ergueta. 1992. Bolivia: De la reforma a la contra reforma agraria. La Paz : Libreria Editorial “Juventud.”.Google Scholar
Arce, Luis. 2007. Minister of Finance, Bolivia. Author interview. La Paz, January 12.Google Scholar
Arze, Carlos, and Kruse, Tom. 2004. The Consequences of Neoliberal Reform. NACLA Report on the Americas 38, 3: 23–30.Google Scholar
Mayor, Aymara. 2000. Indigenous mayor, municipality in northern Potosí. Author interview. Northern Potosí, April.Google Scholar
Bondi, Liz, and Laurie, Nina. 2005. Introduction. Special issue: Working the Spaces of Neoliberalism: Activism, Professionalisation and Incorporation. Antipode 37, 3: 393–401.Google Scholar
Casanovas, Winston Moore. 1985. Capital Accumulation and Revolutionary Nationalism in Bolivia, 1952–85. In The State and Capital Accumulation in Latin America, ed. Anglade, Christian and Fortin, Carlos. Pittsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press. 32–53.Google Scholar
Centro de Estudios para el Desarollo Laboral y Agrario (CEDLA). 2006. Legitimando el orden neoliberal: 100 días de gobierno de Evo Morales. La Paz : CEDLA.Google Scholar
Costa Benavides, Jimena. 2005. La “Guerra del Gas” en Bolivia. Representaciones sobre neoliberalismo y el rol del estado en la defensa de los recursos naturales en la crisis de octubre de 2003. In Políticas de economia, ambiente y sociedad en tiempos de globalización, ed. Mato, Daniel. Caracas : Universidad Central de Venezuela. 233–52.Google Scholar
Crabtree, John. 2005. Patterns of Protest: Politics and Social Movements in Bolivia. London : Latin America Bureau.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, David, and Porter, Douglas. 2003. Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers: a New Convergence. World Development 31, 1: 53–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cusicanqui, Riviera Silva. 1990. Liberal Democracy and Ayllu Democracy in Bolivia: the Case of Northern Potosí. Journal of Development Studies 26, 4: 97–121.Google Scholar
Dangl, Benjamin. 2007. The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Oakland : AK Press.Google Scholar
De la Fuente, Manuel. 2000. La guerra por el agua en Cochabamba: crónica de una dolorosa victoria. Cochabamba : PROMEC/FACES.Google Scholar
De la Fuente, Manuel. 2002. Del reino del neoliberalismo a la insurgencia de los indígenas y campesinos. OSAL 8 (September): 83–88.Google Scholar
Delgado, Ramiro. 2007. Unity Chief, vice Ministry for Coordination of Social Movements. Author interview. La Paz, January 8.Google Scholar
Democracy Center. 2007. Interpreting Bolivia's Political Transformation. Cochabamba : The Democracy Center. <http://www.democracyctr.org/pdf/Interpreting_Bolivia_Political_Transformation.pdf> Accessed January 2008.+Accessed+January+2008.>Google Scholar
Dunkerley, James. 2007. Evo Morales, the “Two Bolivias” and the Third Bolivian Revolution. Journal of Latin American Studies 39, 1: 133–66.Google Scholar
Escóbar de Pabón, Silvia. 2003. Ajuste y liberalización, las causas del conflicto social. OSAL 12 (September-December): 47–55.Google Scholar
Faguet, Jean-Paul. 2003. Decentralization and Local Government in Bolivia: an Overview from the Bottom up. Lse Research Online. <http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/archive/00000481> Accessed April 2009.+Accessed+April+2009.>Google Scholar
Fernández Cabezas, Marta. 2005. Bolivia: Tiempos rebeldes. Coyuntura y causas profundas de las movilizaciones indígena-populares. Revista de Antropología Iberoamericana 41 (May-June): 1–15.Google Scholar
García Linera, Alvaro. 2005. El desencuentro de dos razones revolucionarias: indianismo y marxismo. Barataria 1, 2: 4–14.Google Scholar
García Linera, Alvaro, Chávez, Marxa, and Costas, Patricia. 2004. Sociologia de los movimientos sociales en Bolivia: estructuras de movilización, repertorios culturales y acción política. La Paz : Diakonia/Oxfam.Google Scholar
Green, Duncan. 2003. Silent Revolution: The Rise and Crisis of Market Economics in Latin America. New York : Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Haarstad, Håvard. 2009a. Fdi policy and Political Spaces for Labour: the Disarticulation of the Bolivian Petroleros. Geoforum 40, 2: 239–48.Google Scholar
Haarstad, Håvard. 2009b. Globalization and the New Spaces for Social Movement Politics: the Marginalization of Labor Unions in Bolivian Gas Nationalization. Globalizations 6, 2: 169–85.Google Scholar
Hale, Charles R. 2002. Does Multiculturalism Menace? Governance, Cultural Rights and the Politics of Identity in Guatemala. Journal of Latin American Studies 34, 3: 485–524.Google Scholar
Harris, Richard L. 1995. The Global Context of Contemporary Latin American Affairs. In Capital, Power, and Inequality in Latin America, ed. Halebsky, Sandor and Harris, . Boulder : Westview Press. 279–304.Google Scholar
Huber, Evelyne, and Solt, Fred. 2004. Successes and Failures of Neoliberalism. Latin American Research Review 39, 3: 151–64.Google Scholar
Hylton, Forrest, and Thompson, Sinclair. 2004. The Roots of Rebellion. NACLA Report on the Americas 381, 3 (November-December): 15–19.Google Scholar
Hylton, Forrest, and Thompson, Sinclair. 2007. Revolutionary Horizons: Past and Present in Bolivian Politics. London : Verso.Google Scholar
International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP). 2005. Local Governments and Human Rights: Doing Good Service. Geneva : ICHRP.Google Scholar
International Monetary Fund (IMF). 1985. Bolivia: Staff Report for the 1985 Article Iv Consultation. SM/85/233. Washington, DC: IMF Archives.Google Scholar
International Monetary Fund (IMF). 1986. Minutes of Board Meeting 86/197. EBM/86/197. Washington, DC: IMF Archives.Google Scholar
International Monetary Fund (IMF). 1994a. Bolivia: Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility, Economic and Policy Framework Paper for 1994–97. EDB/94/188. Washington , DC : IMF Archives.Google Scholar
International Monetary Fund (IMF). 1994b. Bolivia: Staff Report for the 1994 Article IV Consultation and Request for Arrangements Under the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility. EBS/94/228. Washington , DC : IMF Archives.Google Scholar
International Monetary Fund (IMF). 1997. Bolivia: Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility, Economic Policy Framework Paper for 1997–99. EDB/97/100. Washington , DC : IMF Archives.Google Scholar
International Monetary Fund (IMF). 2003a. Bolivia: Article Iv Consultation. Country Report No. 03/257. Washington, DC: IMF Archives.Google Scholar
International Monetary Fund (IMF). 2003b. Bolivia: Request for Stand-by Arrangement. Country Report No. 03/179. Washington, DC: IMF Archives.Google Scholar
International Monetary Fund (IMF). 2004a. Bolivia: Fourth Review under the Stand-by Arrangement. Country Report No. 04/350. Washington, DC: IMF Archives.Google Scholar
International Monetary Fund (IMF). 2004b. Bolivia: Third Review under the Stand-by Arrangement. Country Report No. 04/193. Washington, DC: IMF Archives.Google Scholar
International Monetary Fund (IMF). 2005. Bolivia: Fifth Review under the Stand-by Arrangement. Country Report No.05/146. Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund Archives.Google Scholar
International Monetary Fund (IMF). 2006. Bolivia: 2006 Article Iv Consultation. Country Report No. 06/270. Washington, DC: IMF Archives.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Rhys. 1997. Structural Adjustment and Bolivian Industry. European Journal of Development Research 9, 2: 107–28.Google Scholar
Jeppesen, Anne Ejdesgaard, Marie. 2002. Reading the Bolivian Landscape of Exclusion and Inclusion: The Law of Popular Participation. In In the Name of the Poor: Contesting Political Space for Poverty Reduction, ed. Engberg-Pedersen, Lars and Webster, Neil. London : Zed Books. 30–51.Google Scholar
Keeling, David. 2004. Latin American Development and the Globalization Imperative: New Directions, Familiar Crises. Journal of Latin American Geography 3, 1: 1–21.Google Scholar
Klein, Herbert S. 2003. A Concise History of Bolivia. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kohl, Benjamin. 2002. Stabilizing Neoliberalism in Bolivia: Popular Participation and Privatization. Political Geography 21, 4: 449–72.Google Scholar
Kohl, Benjamin. 2006. Challenges to Neoliberal Hegemony in Bolivia. Antipode 38, 2: 304–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohl, Benjamin, and Farthing, Linda. 2006. Impasse in Bolivia: Neoliberal Hegemony and Popular Resistance. London : Zed Books.Google Scholar
Larner, Wendy. 2003. Neoliberalism? Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 21, 5: 509–12.Google Scholar
Laurie, Nina, and Bonnett, Alastair. 2002. Adjusting to Equity: the Contradictions of Neoliberalism and the Search for Racial Equity in Peru. Antipode 34, 1: 28–53.Google Scholar
Lazar, Sian. 2008. El Alto, Rebel City: Self and Citizenship in Andean Bolivia. Durham : Duke University Press.Google Scholar
López, Thomás. 2006. General Secretary, Sindicato de Trabajadores Petroleros de La Paz. Author interview. La Paz, December 27.Google Scholar
Lora, Guillermo. 1977. A History of the Bolivian Labour Movement, 1848–1971. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Madrid, Raúl L. 2008. The Rise of Ethnopopulism in Latin America. World Politics 60 (April): 475–508.Google Scholar
McNeish, John. 2002. Globalization and the Reinvention of Andean Tradition: the Politics of Community and Ethnicity in Highland Bolivia. Journal of Peasant Studies 29, 3–4: 228–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medeiros, Carmen. 2001. Civilizing the Popular? the Law of Popular Participation and the Design of a New Civil Society in 1990s Bolivia. Critique of Anthropology 21, 4: 401–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nash, June. 1992. Interpreting Social Movements: Bolivian Resistance to Economic Conditions Imposed by the International Monetary Fund. American Ethnologist 19, 2: 275–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NGO Director. 2006. Director of Ngo working in southern Bolivia. Author interview. Potosí, December.Google Scholar
Oxhorn, Philip. 1998. Is the Century of Corporatism Over? Neoliberalism and the Rise of Neopopulism. In What Kind of Democracy? What Kind of Market? Latin America in the Age of Neoliberalism, ed. Oxhorn, and Ducatenzeiler, Graciela. University Park : Pennsylvania State University Press. 195–217.Google Scholar
Peck, Jamie. 2004. Geography and Public Policy: Constructions of Neoliberalism. Progress in Human Geography 28, 3: 392–405.Google Scholar
Peck, Jamie, and Tickell, Adam. 2002. Neoliberalizing Space. Antipode 34, 3: 380–404.Google Scholar
Perreault, Thomas, and Martin, Patricia. 2005. Geographies of Neoliberalism in Latin America. Environment and Planning A 37, 2: 191–201.Google Scholar
Petras, James, and Veltmeyer, Henry. 2005. Social Movements and State Power. London : Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Postero, Nancy Grey. 2005. Indigenous Responses to Neoliberalism: a Look at the Bolivian Uprising of 2003. PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review 28, 1: 73–92.Google Scholar
Postero, Nancy Grey. 2007. Now We Are Citizens: Indigenous Politics in Postmulticultural Bolivia. Stanford : Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Raco, Mike. 2005. Sustainable Development, Rolled-out Neoliberalism and Sustainable Communities. Antipode 37, 2: 324–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
La Razón (La Paz). 2006. El presidente da inicio a la era indígena. January 22. <http://www.la-razon.com/versiones/20060122_005429/nota_244_240543.htm>..>Google Scholar
Rockefeller, Stuart Alexander. 1998. Political Institutions and the Evanescence of Power: Making History in Highland Bolivia. Ethnology 37, 2: 187–207.Google Scholar
Rodríguez, Gustavo, and Böhrt, Carlos. 1987. Crisis del sindicalismo en Bolivia. La Paz : FLACSO.Google Scholar
Schroeder, Kathleen. 2007. Economic Globalization and Bolivia's Regional Divide. Journal of Latin American Geography 6, 2: 99–120.Google Scholar
Seoane, José. 2006. Movimientos sociales y recursos naturales en América Latina: resistencias al neoliberalismo, configuración de alternativas. Sociedade e Estado 21, 1: 85–107.Google Scholar
Shultz, Jim. 2002. Promises to Keep: Using Public Budgets as a Tool to Advance Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Cuernavaca : Fundar.Google Scholar
Shultz, Jim. 2005a. Deadly Consequences: The International Monetary Fund and Bolivia's “Black February.” Cochabamba : The Democracy Center.Google Scholar
Shultz, Jim. 2005b. The Politics of Water in Bolivia. The Nation, January 28.Google Scholar
Spronk, Susan, and Webber, Jeffery R.. 2007. Struggles against Accumulation by Dispossession in Bolivia: the Political Economy of Natural Resource Contention. Latin American Perspectives 34, 2: 31–47.Google Scholar
Strobele-Gregor, Juliana, Hoffman, Bert, and Holmes, Andrew. 1994. From Indio to Mestizo … to Indio: New Indianist Movements in Bolivia. Latin American Perspectives 21, 2: 106–23.Google Scholar
Tarrow, Sidney. 1988. National Politics and Collective Action: Recent Theory and Research in Western Europe and the United States. Annual Review of Sociology 14: 421–40.Google Scholar
Van Cott, Donna Lee. 2003. From Exclusion to Inclusion: Bolivia's 2002 Elections. Journal of Latin American Studies 35, 4: 751–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vargas, Marcial. 2006. Secretary of Education, Fejuve El Alto. Author interview. El Alto, October 19.Google Scholar
Vesperoni, Esteban. 2006. Bolivian Resident Representative, International Monetary Fund. Author interview. La Paz, October 24.Google Scholar
Vilas, Carlos M. 1995. Economic Restructuring, Neoliberal Reforms, and the Working Class in Latin America. In Capital, Power, and Inequality in Latin America, ed. Halebsky, Sandor and Harris, Richard L.. Boulder : Westview Press. 137–63.Google Scholar
Walton, Michael. 2004. Neoliberalism in Latin America: Good, Bad, or Incomplete? Latin American Research Review 39, 3: 166–83.Google Scholar
Webber, Jeffery R. 2007. Indigenous Struggle in Latin America: the Perilous Invisibility of Capital and Class. Latin American Politics and Society 49, 3 (Fall): 191–206.Google Scholar
Weyland, Kurt. 2004. Assessing Latin American Neoliberalism: Introduction to a Debate. Latin American Research Review 39, 3: 143–49.Google Scholar
Whitehead, Laurence, and Gray-Molina, George. 1999. The Long-Term Politics of Pro-Poor Policies. Background paper prepared for the World Development Report 2000–1: The Responsiveness of Political Systems to Poverty Reduction. Washington , DC : World Bank. <http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPOVERTY/Resources/WDR/DfiD-Project-Papers/whitehea.pdf> Accessed April 2009.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2005. World Development Report 2005: A Better Investment Climate for Everyone. New York : World Bank/Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Yashar, Deborah J. 1999. Democracy, Indigenous Movements, and the Postliberal Challenge in Latin America. World Politics 52, 1: 76–104.Google Scholar
Žižek, Slavoj. 1997. Multiculturalism, or, the Cultural Logic of Multinational Capitalism. New Left Review 225: 28–51.Google Scholar