Bolivia: Refounding the Nation

Abstract

This is an interesting and ambitious book. Artaraz, in a bold and courageous attempt, is trying to provide an encompassing view of the contemporary social and development processes in Bolivia. The first three chapters of the book provide a general context to the political success of the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS or Movement Towards Socialism); however, the amount of political information, reporting of the press and ‘theoretical’ interpretation, leaves chapters cluttered with events that seem to obscure the purpose of the book beyond reporting and registering information. However, there is not a doubt that the author is an erudite on the Bolivian political processes and he should be congratulated on making this wealth of information available in English; the question is if this contribution places the significance of the Bolivian political experience within the world and Latin America. The documental value and rich information of the book is somehow in contrast with the author's traditional and general theoretical interpretations of the significance of the Bolivian political trajectory. In my view, in the text there seems to be a tension between the traditional notion of class, new actors, indigenous identities and social movements and the political promises of a new beginning ‘of the Bolivian nation’. This leaves me aware of the contemporary conceptual crisis in social science. The lack of a robust conceptual body to describe social political trajectories, such as the Bolivian case, are in part responsible for the inability to generate new narratives that could contribute to innovative theoretical principles in the field of development.