Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Making or Breaking Politics: Social Conflicts and Party-System Change in Democratic Bolivia

  • Published:
Studies in Comparative International Development Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Why do only some social conflicts lead to party-system change? In Bolivia, the recent politicization of the regional autonomy movement represented a stark difference with how conflicts had affected party-system dynamics in the past. This study argues that social conflicts led to party-system change in Bolivia thanks largely to the strategies of ruling party elites. Motivated to preserve their position in power, elites had a menu of strategic options at their disposal to integrate, defer, or disregard demands from below. The study situates the recent regional conflict in Bolivia within the country’s longer history of mobilizational politics. It finds that ruling elites utilized different strategies of exclusion and inclusion to neutralize social conflict and preserve the status quo party system. They appropriated the regional autonomy demands as a last-ditch effort to remain electorally relevant in the face of successful party competition. In so doing, they helped transform the party system. Even from a position of electoral weakness and in the face of overwhelming demands from below, Bolivia’s elites shaped the transformative impact of those demands. This study relies upon a least-likely case design to highlight the impact elite agency can have in making or breaking politics under democracy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. See the debate about the role of agency versus structure in the formation of Chile’s post-authoritarian party system (Angell 2003; Torcal and Mainwaring 2003).

  2. The author uses these two terms interchangeably. Status quo party elites are defined below.

  3. Who counts as a status quo party elite is an empirical question. Elected individuals from a predominant party or group of parties are the status quo party elite. The author uses the competitive dynamic of the party system to distinguish the status quo elite (those seeking to preserve the existing dynamic) from the new elite (those helping forge a new dynamic through their electoral success). Boix (2003) adopts a similar relational logic, defining an “old” elite in relation to the “new” elite that emerges.

  4. Scully (1992) identifies a third strategy: “straddling” an issue with the hopes that it will be resolved outside the political arena (Scully 1992, pp. 177–178). This study does not consider this kind of inaction, as its focus is on mobilizations that are so intense that elite inaction is untenable. The author conceptualizes disruptive mobilizations below.

  5. Electoral success is defined by the electoral and party system in question. In presidential systems, for example, a competitive party is one whose presidential candidate is a top finisher in an election (Seawright 2012). Depending on how many parties operate within that system, a top finisher may be a second- or even third-place finisher.

  6. Realignment is an enduring kind of party-system change, whereby the electoral balance among political parties shifts in a dramatic and lasting way (Seawright 2012, 51). The author demonstrates below that this kind of change occurs in Bolivia in 2005.

  7. Of course, appropriation is not the only cause of party-system change. The argument presented here speaks specifically to instances of disruptive mobilization (Scully 1992) and why only some of these impact party-system dynamics.

  8. In 2005, Poder Democrático y Social (Podemos) fielded the main opposition candidate. In 2009, it was a coalition of parties called Plan Progreso para Bolivia-Convergencia Nacional. A new coalition, Frente Amplio, formed for the 2014 election, although not all opposition candidates have formally joined.

  9. In 1950, 4.5 % of rural landholders in Bolivia owned 70 % of the country’s arable land (Alexander 1958, p. 58). The Eastern half of the country remained largely untouched by this reform (Eaton 2007).

  10. Prior to 1994, when no presidential candidate received more than 50 % of the votes, Congress chose one of the top three vote-getters as president. After 1994, only the top two recipients could become president.

  11. MNR broke this promise. ADN in turn supported MIR’s candidate, who eventually became president.

  12. Paz Zamora, as head of the revolutionary left party, previously refused to collaborate with former dictator Banzer, claiming that there were “rivers of blood” between them. To justify his 1989 alliance with Banzer, Paz said it was time to build bridges as a way to move on from the past.

  13. By 2002, UCS captured only 5.5 % and Condepa only 0.35 % of the total national vote (CNE Online).

  14. This happened to MIR upon joining a coalition with ADN in 1993.

  15. For more on the plan, see Kohl 2003.

  16. The two parties had longstanding animosities that inhibited coalition-building. They joined forces in 2002, however, to keep the MAS out of the governing majority.

  17. On 17 October 2003, Sánchez de Lozada was forced to step down after the military violently ended protests against the government’s hydrocarbons policy. His Vice President, Carlos Mesa, assumed the presidency.

  18. The call to re-found the constitution had a long trajectory in the country. It was one of the primary demands prior to the third disruptive mobilization in the early 1990s. Morales had made constitutional reform one of his 2005 campaign promises.

  19. The author uses the term “former” to differentiate between the previous ruling party elite and the new ruling party elite that replaced them.

  20. The MAS won a majority in the Assembly election, but it did not capture the two thirds of the seats necessary to push through its proposed changes unopposed. The MAS therefore fought for the final draft to be approved by a simple majority (BBC Mundo 2006b).

  21. The MAS has made inroads in the media luna, thanks primarily to support from internal migrants who have moved from west to east, the urban poor, and small business owners.

  22. Although the constituent assembly consisted of both MAS and “status quo” party elites, the draft was approved only after the status quo elites initiated a boycott of the assembly.

References

  • Agencia Boliviana de Información (ABI). Podemos se opone a reposición de recursos de IDH para garantizar el pago del Bonosol. 2007. http://www.tarijalibre.tarijaindustrial.com/podemos-se-opone-a-reposicion-de-recursos-de-idh-para-garantizar-el-pago-del-bonosol/. Last accessed 19 Apr 2003.

  • Albó X. And from Kataristas to MNRistas? The surprising and bold aliance between Aymaras and Neoliberals in Bolivia. In: Lee Van Cott D, editor. Indigenous peoples and democracy in Latin America. New York: St. Martins’s Press; 1994. p. 55–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Albó X. Making the leap from local mobilization to national politics. NACLA Rep Am. 1996;29:15–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Albro R. The culture of democracy and Bolivia’s indigenous movements. Crit Anthropol. 2006;26(4):387–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alcántara M. Elections in Latin America 2009–2011: a comparative analysis. Working Paper #386. Kellogg Institute for International Studies. 2012. http://kellogg.nd.edu/publications/workingpapers/WPS/386.pdf. Last accessed 21 Jan 2013.

  • Alexander RJ. The Bolivian national revolution. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press; 1958.

    Google Scholar 

  • Angell A. Party change in Chile in comparative perspective. rev de Ciencia Política 2003;23(2):88–108.

  • Anria S. Social movements, party organization, and populism: insights from the Bolivian MAS. Latin Am Polit Soc. 2013;55(3):19–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Assies W, Salman T. Ethnicity and politics in Bolivia. Ethnopol 2005;4(3):269–297.

  • Bartolini S, Mair P. Identity, competition and electoral availability: the stabilisation of European electorates 1885–1985. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBC Mundo. Bolivia, en preguntas y respuestas. 2006a. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/news/newsid_5327000/5327054.stm. Last accessed 18 Apr 2013.

  • BBC Mundo. Bolivia: opositores van a la huelga de hambre. 2006b. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_6156000/6156860.stm. Last accessed 18 Apr 2013.

  • Birnir JK, Van Cott DL. Disunity in diversity: party system fragmentation and the dynamic effect of ethnic heterogeneity on Latin American legislatures. Lat Am Res Rev. 2007;42(1):99–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boix C. Setting the rules of the game: the choice of electoral systems in advanced democracies. Am Polit Sci Rev. 2003;93(3):609–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolpress. Tras olas de críticas, los autonomistas cruceñas aclaran que su estatuto es un ‘borrador’ para el debate. 2007. http://www.bolpress.com/art.php?Cod=2007070320. Last accessed 18 Apr 2013.

  • Calderón F. La Política en las Calles. Cochabamba: Ediciones CERES; 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calderón F, Gamarra E. Crisis, inflexión y reforma del sistema de partidos en Bolivia. Working Paper, La Paz 2003.

  • Centellas M. Savina Cuéllar and Bolivia’s new regionalism. Latin Am Perspect. 2010;37(4):161–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Centellas M, Buitrago MA. The political economy of Bolivia’s new regionalism: a look at electoral patterns in Santa Cruz, Tarija, and Chuiquisaca. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of Midwest Political Science Association. Chicago, IL; 2–5 April, 2009.

  • Collier RB, Collier D. Shaping the Political Arena: critical junctures, the labor movement, and regime dynamics in Latin America. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 2002[1991].

  • Corte Nacional Electoral (CNE) Online. CNE, PNUD Bolivia, and Idea Internacional. Atlas Electoral de Bolivia: Elecciones Generales 1979–2009, Asamblea Constituyente 2006. La Paz, Bolivia: PNUD Bolivia. 2010. www.cne.org.bo. Last accessed 5 May 2008.

  • Cyr J. From collapse to comeback? The fates of political parties in Latin America. Unpublished Dissertation. Northwestern University; 2012.

  • Deegan-Krause K. New dimensions of political cleavage. In: Dalton R, Klingemann HD, editors. Oxford handbook of political behaviour. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2007. p. 538–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dix R. Cleavage structures and party systems in Latin America. Comp Polit. 1989;22(1):23–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Do Alto H, Poupeau F. Bolivia: Morales is Checked. Le Monde Diplomatique 2008;March http://mondediplo.com/2008/03/07bolivia. Last accessed 13 Apr 2013.

  • Eaton K. Backlash in Bolivia: regional autonomy as a reaction against indigenous mobilization. Polit Soc. 2007;35(1):71–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eaton K. Conservative autonomy movements: territorial dimensions of ideological conflict in Bolivia and Ecuador. Comp Polit. 2011;43(3):291–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etchemendy S. Repression, exclusion, and inclusion: government-union relations and patterns of labor reform in liberalizing economies. Comp Polit. 2004;36(3):273–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fabricant N. Performative politics: the Camba countermovement in eastern Bolivia. Am Ethnol. 2009;36(4):768–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • García A, Chávez M, Costas P. Sociología de los movimientos sociales en Bolivia: Estructuras de movilización, repertorios culturales, y acción política. La Paz: Plural; 2004.

  • Gentile CJ. Bolivia to sell gas to Chile. Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA). 2007. www.coha.org/2007/06/20/bolivia-to-sell-gas-to-chile/. Last accessed 2 Mar 2013.

  • Gerring J. Is there a (viable) crucial-case method? Comp Polit Stud. 2007;40(3):231–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grindle M. Shadowing the past? Policy reform in Bolivia, 1985–2002. In: Grindle M, Domingo P, editors. Proclaiming revolution: Bolivia in comparative perspective. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gustafson B. By means legal and otherwise: the Bolivian right regroups. NACLA Rep Am. 2008;41(1):20–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Healy K. Political ascent of Bolivia’s peasant coca leaf producers. J Interam Stud World Aff. 1991;33(1):87–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, RS, Mair, P. Changing models of party organization and party democracy: the emergence of the Cartel Party. Part Polit 1995;1(5): 5–28.

  • Kitschelt H. Citizens, politicians, and party cartellization: political representation and state failure in post-industrial democracies. Eur J Polit Res. 2000;37(2):149–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitschelt HS, Hawkins KA, Luna JP, Rosas G, Zechmeister EJ. Latin American party systems. New York: Cambridge University Press; 2010.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Klein HS. Bolivia: the evolution of a multi-ethnic society. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohl B. Restructuring citizenship in Bolivia: El Plan de Todos. Int J Urban Reg Res. 2003;27(2):337–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohl B, Bresnahan R. Introduction. Bolivia under Morales: National Agenda, regional challenges, and the struggle for hegemony. Lat Am Perspect. 2010;37(5):5–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohl B, Farthing L. Impasse in Bolivia: neoliberal hegemony and popular resistance. London: Zed Books; 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • La Nación. No ceden los reclamos en Bolivia pese a un anuncio de reformas de Mesa.Buenos Aires. 2005. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/710023-no-ceden-los-reclamos-en-bolivia-pese-a-un-anuncio-de-reformas-de-mesa. Last accessed 15 Mar 2013.

  • Laserna R. El caudillismo fragmentado. Nueva Soc. 2007;209:100–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipset SM, Rokkan S. Party systems and voter alignments: cross-national perspectives. New York: The Free Press; 1967.

    Google Scholar 

  • Madrid RL. The rise of Ethnopopulism in Latin America. World Polit. 2008;60(2):475–508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mainwaring, S, Scully T, editors. Building democratic institutions: party systems in Latin America. Stanford: Stanford University Press; 1995.

  • Malloy JM. Bolivia: the uncompleted revolution. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press; 1970.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malloy JM, Gamarra E. Revolution and reaction: Bolivia, 1964–1985. New Brunswick: Transaction Books; 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massal J. Bolivia: la unidad nacional en jaque. Un periódico 2006; 97. http://historico.unperiodico.unal.edu.co/Ediciones/76/02.htm. Last access 7 Apr 2014.

  • Mayorga F. Neopopulismo y democracia en Bolivia. Rev Cienc Política. 2003;23(1):99–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell C. The legacy of populism in Bolivia: from the MNR to military rule. New York: Praeger Publishers; 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, J. Bankrupt representation and party system collapse. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press; 2011.

  • O’Neill D. Decentralizing the state: elections, parties, and local power in the Andes. New York: Cambridge University Press; 2005.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Patch RW. Peasantry and national revolution: Bolivia. In: Silvert KH, editor. Expectant peoples nationalism and development. New York: Random House; 1963. p. 95–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peruzzotti E, Smulovitz C, editors. Enforcing the rule of law: social accountability in the new Latin American democracies. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press; 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raymond C, Barros Feltch B. Parties, cleavages and issue evolution: the case of the religious-secular cleavage in Chile. Party Polit. 2014;20(3):429–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reuters. Aplazan las elecciones en Bolivia por una disputa regional. 2005. http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/60974/0/ELECCIONES/BOLIVIA/. Last accessed 20 Mar 2013.

  • Rice R. Regional Autonomy and Municipal Politics in Post-Neoliberal Bolivia. Paper presented at the 2011 Annual Meeting of American Political Science Association. Seattle, WA, 1–4 September 2011.

  • Roberts K. Market reform, programmatic (De)alignment, and party system stability in Latin America. Comp Polit Stud. 2013;46(11):1422–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roca JL. Fisonomia del regionalismo boliviano. La Paz: Los Amigos del Libro; 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scully TR. Rethinking the center: party politics in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Chile. Stanford: Stanford University Press; 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seawright J. Party-system collapse: the roots of crisis in Peru and Venezuela. Stanford: Stanford University Press; 2012.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Slater D, Simmons E. Coping by colluding: political uncertainty and promiscuous powersharing in Indonesia and Bolivia. Comp Polit Stud. 2013;46(11):1366–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torcal M, Mainwaring S. The political recrafting of social bases of party competition: Chile, 1973–95. Br J Polit Sci. 2003;33(1):55–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Cott DL. Party system development and indigenous populations in Latin America: the Bolivian case. Party Polit. 2000;6(2):155–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Cott DL. From movements to parties in Latin America: the evolution of ethnic politics. New York: Cambridge University Press; 2005.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Webber J. Carlos Mesa, Evo Morales, and a divided Bolivia (2003–2005). Lat Am Perspect. 2010;37(3):51–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead L. The emergence of democracy in Bolivia. In: Crabtree J, Whitehead L, editors. Towards democratic viability: the Bolivian experiment. Oxford: Palgrave; 2001.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Government and Public Policy, Center for Latin American Studies, University of Arizona, 315 Social Sciences Building, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Jennifer Cyr

Authors
  1. Jennifer Cyr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jennifer Cyr.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cyr, J. Making or Breaking Politics: Social Conflicts and Party-System Change in Democratic Bolivia. St Comp Int Dev 50, 283–303 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-014-9161-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-014-9161-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation