Abstract

Webber, Jeffrey. 2011. From Rebellion to Reform in Bolivia. Chicago: Haymarket Books. ISBN: 978–1–60846–106–6. Paperback: 21.50 CAD. Pages: 281.

Highlights

  • Reviewed by Manuel Larrabure York University. For those on the left, it has become common sense to think of the current governments in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and sometimes even those in Brazil and Argentina as presenting alternatives to neoliberalism, and perhaps even capitalism itself

  • These included the 1989 Venezuelan uprising known as “el Caracazo,” the Argentine uprisings in 2001–2002, and the water and gas wars in Bolivia between 2000 and 2005. In all of these cases, new governments promising a break with neoliberalism were elected into office, and in Bolivia and Venezuela the phrase “socialism for the 21st-century” would soon enter everyday discourse

  • More than a decade into Latin America’s “pink tide,” is it still possible to characterize the governments of Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales and others as presenting a challenge to neoliberalism or capitalism? Was it ever correct to depict these governments in such a manner? Addressing the case of Bolivia Jeff Webber answers these questions with a resounding and controversial no

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Summary

Introduction

For those on the left, it has become common sense to think of the current governments in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and sometimes even those in Brazil and Argentina as presenting alternatives to neoliberalism, and perhaps even capitalism itself. Webber’s central argument is that the Morales government is pursuing an agenda of “reconstituted neoliberalism,” betraying many of the demands and aspirations of the popular movements that elected the MAS At first, the MAS maintained important links to popular movements, by 2002, Webber argues, it began to court the votes of the urban middle classes in an attempt to secure an eventual electoral victory.

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