The ‘agropopulist shift’ toward authoritarianism: the conflict between the MAS government and coca growers from the Bolivian Yungas

Abstract

ABSTRACT Progressive agrarian populist movements might walk the path toward authoritarianism under concrete hegemonic struggles, social class relations, and state-society dynamics. I propose the notion of the ‘agropopulist shift’ to draw attention to how these movements, when accessing state power, might deploy authoritarian tactics against their former class allies. To illustrate this argument, I analyze a case that demonstrates how, and the extent to which, the government of the former Bolivian president Evo Morales and his political party, the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), shifted toward authoritarian populist politics to address the social dissent of the coca growers from Los Yungas region.