Abstract
Bolivia’s political transition in 2006 represented more than just a transfer of power. It also marked the arrival of a new political, economic and social paradigm. The newly elected leader (Evo Morales Ayma) and his political party, the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) brought with them an ambitious agenda for social change. Most of the initial efforts were aimed at responding to electoral promises and the demands from the myriad of social movements that supported Morales’ ticket. As time progressed, the ideological components of the model were refined and transformed from an anti-neoliberal rhetoric to a comprehensive agenda of state reform. Part of the ideological components were rooted in the notion of “Vivir Bien” [Living Well], which in essence is a balanced approach for development considering human wellbeing in harmony with mother nature. The political challenge, however, has been the transformation of this holistic approach into a practical one and the policy implications that this entails ‒a particularly difficult issue in a country with weak institutional settings and limited state capacity. This article argues that although there have been many gains, particularly in reorienting the notion of the welfare state and in key economic and social areas, the model is still highly dependent on a neo-patrimonial state that relies heavily on a few commodities to support a growing social agenda. Moreover, in the past years the political emphasis and efforts have favored economic reforms over social ones, which might jeopardize the whole model in the not so near future.
Highlights
The arrival to power of Evo Morales and the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) in 2006 was more than just a government transition; it signified the arrival of a new ideological and historical paradigm
It is at this early stage that the concept of Vivir Bien, in Aymara Suma Qamaña, in Quechua Sumac Kausay, emerges as some sort of ideological unifying glue
The Vivir Bien notion spams from a philosophical view that values a symbiosis between humans and nature, and the need for societies to get organized with the purpose of satisfying individual needs but through a communitarian view
Summary
The arrival to power of Evo Morales and the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) in 2006 was more than just a government transition; it signified the arrival of a new ideological and historical paradigm. Jumping to the 21st century, Weber initial observations might be translated as the attempts of an organized bureaucracy to gain control of the state resources for varied reasons, among them ideological or political ones This view follows the early work of Eisenstadt (1973) and his pioneer use of the term neo-patrimonialism defined as a mixed system that combines patrimonial rule with bureaucratic appropriation.. From 1964 onwards, the rentier state expanded and became increasingly dependent on the emerging oil industry and its appropriation by an authoritarian-controlled state (mild neopatrimonialism) This model continued with different nuances well into the 1980s, when neoliberal reforms (ironically implemented by a transformed MNR) diminished the economic role of the state reducing its direct access to the nation’s patrimony but not its reliance of new forms of rent, such as the income from privatization schemes and royalties on key industries. The focus has been mostly on immediate policy goals, some of them relatively successful (for example the visible results in the reduction of overall levels of poverty and decreasing inequality), but with several shortcomings transforming and modernizing the state in its core
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