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The objective of the present paper is to analyze if policies of the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA) - applied to the borderline region between Brazil/Bolivia - include social participation in the decisions about environmental resources exploitation. It was used the followed methods: textual analysis of public policies of IIRSA, photography, maps and interview analysis with experts in the subject of regional integration. The research is based mainly in the theories of David Harvey, Neil Smith, David Held and Bertha Becker. The current paper discusses about: 1) how policies have a "lacunar discurse2" conduced by Brazil. 2) how laws are planed exclusively by the decision makers, often without the vote of the citizens. Consequently, there is a loss of autonomy in the management of natural resources done by the people, and decisions are taken according to the international economic demands. The physical consequence of the policies on the environment is an increase of fragmentation not only ecological but also cultural, both reflecting negatively on the economy of the region involved in integrative policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the puzzle of why ethnic cleavages became more salient and resulted in national political mobilization in Ecuador and Bolivia, while class-based cleavages have remained more salient for national mobilization in Peru? A comparison of indigenous mobilization in the three Andean cases provides a useful test for competing theories of ethnic identity in order to inform the debate over whether ethnic identity is different in kind from other types of identity, such as class. The paper utilizes the cases to evaluate four broad approaches to identity: Primordialism; "Thick" Constructivism, Rational Choice, and Situational. A secondary purpose of the paper is to suggest ways that the literature on ethnic identity may inform the research among Latin American scholars studying indigenous mobilization in the Andes.The paper concludes that the three cases support the "situational" view of ethnicity, which posits that ethnicity is fundamentally different from class because it is rooted in culture and relies on the symbolic use of some aspect of culture to differentiate one group from another. People organize their perceptions and various identities become more salient in different situational contexts, depending on how an issue is framed, which is why symbols are so important. The paper finds that while indigenous identity remained salient in the Peruvian highlands, ethnicity was not a particularly useful tool around which to organize mass mobilizations because it was constructed differently than in Ecuador and Bolivia, thus inhibiting a national indigenous movement. Factors such as the failure to incorporate the concept of mestizaje into the nationalization campaign of the 20th century and the tendency for indigenous symbols to be incorporated into the nationalization process and reframed to be symbols of Peruvian nationalism led indigenous peoples in Peru's highlands to redefine indigenous identity to be compatible with notions of mestizaje and its associations with modernity and socio-economic advancement. In contrast to Ecuador and Bolivia, where indigenous social movements raised ethnic banners to resist and challenge the prevalent mestizo national images, in Peru, indigenous symbols were less useful for mobilizing indigenous peoples around their struggle for socio-economic advancement. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bolivian state has undergone far-reaching transformations since the 1985 hyperinflationary crisis, which laid bare the irresolvable contradictions of state capitalism, and heralded a wave of economic and institutional liberalisation under the Paz Estenssoro, Paz Zamora, Sánchez de Lozada and Banzer/Quiroga administrations. The paper offers a neo-Gramscian analysis of the causes and processes underlying the process of institutional restructuring most closely associated with globalisation: the internationalisation of the Bolivian state. This analysis weaves theoretical and empirical dimensions of research by interconnecting a definition of the state thus far non-existent in neo-Gramscian approaches as a contradictory organisation of subjection, with empirical evidence related to Bolivia's deepening integration into a consolidating global governance complex. It locates the primary cause of internationalisation in the emergence of a transnational historic bloc, which integrated a small nucleus of dominant business elites in Bolivia and struggled, from 1985 onwards, to implement reforms sustaining a stable macro-economic framework and 'private sector development'. However, internationalisation itself fostered the consolidation of the transnational bloc. The paper demonstrates that internationalisation unfolded first via an institutional articulation of key government ministries (chiefly Finance and Planning) with Multilateral Development Institutions (MDIs) and subsequently via a penetration of the lower levels of the administration by MDI staff and private consultants as line managers and trainers. World Bank adjustment and technical assistance, and stand-by agreements with the International Monetary Fund facilitated state internationalisation and sustained restructuring in Bolivia. Internationalisation thus provides an important clue to the street violence (Water Wars, Febrero Negro, Gas Wars) that eventually led to the election of Evo Morales in 2005. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2006 Bolivian nationalization of hydrocarbons marked a range of measures by the government that had as its ultimate goal a rupture with the logic of colonial rule, reproduced for the past decades in the domination of neoliberal markets. In that sense, the control by the state of natural resources symbolizes a double movement: on the one hand, it would represent the reaffirmation of people's sovereignty, diminished by centuries of exploration. On the other, nationalization would also serve to foster Bolivia's development as the increase of income is redistributed among people. In that context, poverty reduction and progress, issues historically treated by liberal thinkers, appear also as part of a project implemented by an anti-neoliberal administration. So, what are the prospects of rupture for Bolivia? In this paper, I argue that, besides the government discourse and people's beliefs, Bolivia could not yet break with the logic of modern times, because that move requires a rupture with the logic of capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to assess the results of the PRSP approach in Latin America, and in particular in the three Latin American HIPC countries Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua. It is based on a five year (2003-2008) study of PRSP experience, undertaken ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does NGO activity in poor, developing democracies increase voter participation? Do international and domestic NGOs affect voter participation in the same way, or differently? This paper addresses both of these questions using an original, municipal-level dataset from Bolivia. I compare NGO activity (measured as the number of NGO projects) with levels of voter turnout in the 2004 municipal elections. I also compare the effects of international and domestic NGO projects. I find that both international and domestic NGOs have a positive effect on voter turnout, contrary to many NGO skeptics who would not expect to find such a relationship. I argue that the difference between international and domestic NGOs has been greatly exaggerated since the vast majority of local NGOs rely on international funding and their on-the-ground projects tend to be very similar. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Democratic peace theory presupposes that established democracies have not only a normative claim to, but also a genuine strategic interest in, extending democracy. Yet much of literature tells us that the "soft goal" of democracy promotion regularly is subordinated to "hard interests" (economy, security, political stability) when it collides with the latter. Moreover, democratisation may also lead to unintended consequences. For instance, "undesired" societal forces may seize hold of democratic institutions or democratisation processes may be derailed in a (semi-) authoritarian way. Thus, while there may be synergetic effects of security considerations, economic interests and normative preferences in the long run, in immediate situations of conflict they frequently clash. Taking the two leading contenders in the field, the US and Germany, as examples, the paper looks at how the respective governments tackle problems of conflicting goals, whether their reaction is compatible with the long-term orientation towards global democratisation or whether their short-term action follows a "traditional" pattern of giving political stability priority over democratisation, even to the point of assisting directly or indirectly political repression. Two cases are taken up: Bolivia where indigenous movements impact on donors' economic and security preferences, and Russia where the rise of election-based (semi-) authoritarianism clashes primarily with normative preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to show the volatile and complex interplay between Bolivia´s drug control policy for coca and cocaine and otherwise unrelated national politics and public policy shifts. The paper will describe and analyze how the implementation of policies of drug control over the past decade generated unforeseen consequences in other public policy arenas stemming from the volatile nature of the impact of drug control policies which reduce incomes from illicit crops while causing more widely a downturn in an important regional economy. This negative economic impact in turn has had political effects driven by the politicization and mobilization capacity of coca growers movements. Widespread and continuous protests by coca growers contributed to the development of political capital which was a crucial ingredient to broad citizens and union movements which succeeded in displacing the traditional political establishment from national power in Bolivia. The political capital developed through a political culture of resistence to drug control policies thus had direct effects on significantly reforming subsequent public policies toward land tenure, the “nationalization” of hydrocarbons, traditional medicine and the political opening for the marginal classes resulting from the election of Bolivia´s first indigenous president, a peasant congressmen from the principal coca growing region of the country. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence and consolidation of indigenous movements was a major force of democratization in Latin America during the last twenty years. In the Andes, in particular, ethno-politics have guaranteed a more inclusive democratic system from Bolivia to Ecuador. Yet, if indigenous movements were undeniably a democratising force, they were not necessarily democratic themselves. The promotion of ethnic participation seems to be leaving many actors behind, notably women.This paper explores the tensions between ethnicity and gender in the process of democratisation in the cases of Ecuador and Bolivia. While recognizing the achievements of ethnic politics, I argue that indigenous movements demands that the state be accountable to universal human rights norms that they are not ready to assume themselves under the justification of cultural rights. International norms are therefore instrumentalized for political purposes but face profound implementation obstacles on the ground. By exploring the tension between gender and ethnicity, I do not imply that ethnicity and gender are incompatible. Rather, I suggest that gender equity remains a fundamental obstacle to democracy in the region and will not naturally flow out of the achievements of indigenous or class-based politics. This paper is an attempt to better understand the state of democratization in the Andes, analysing how international norms are instrumentalized for leverage in domestic politics. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a critique of the World Bank's "Impoverishment Risk and Livelihood Reconstruction Model" (IRLR) for development-induced displacement projects. It does so through a case study that involves the negotiation process between an American transnational mining corporation (TMC) and the Quechua community of San Cristóbal, Bolivia, which was displaced by the TMC to a new town because there were silver deposits underneath the old San Cristóbal and the two mountains that surrounded the town. In fact, San Cristóbal, located at 4,200 meters above sea level, is one of the three largest open pit silver mines in the world. The paper argues that this displacing-inducing new mining project is a socially unsustainable plan. This plan envisages the full proletarianization of indigenous communities, which, for many, will lead to their alienation from their deeply rooted and meaning-giving environment and from other peoples with whom they ecologically, socially and economically interact. In turn, this will cause the breakdown of the complex reciprocal relationship within the circulation of labour and produce, culturally cemented through kinship ties and within their cosmology, or religion. I have utilized an ethnographic method to describe and explain the pitfalls of the shift from a subsistence economy based on the Andean "vertical control of multiple ecological zones," on kinship ties and social relations based on reciprocity towards a neo-liberal model. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a Marxian political economic analysis of the first year of the Evo Morales presidency in Bolivia. The Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement Toward Socialism, MAS) took office on January 22, 2006. The 2005 elections followed on the heals of a five-year cycle of massive Left-indigenous mobilizations, which forced the resignation of two neoliberal presidents prior to Morales assuming power through electoral means. While many observers on the Left see the MAS regime as at least potentially revolutionary, I argue that a sober political economic analysis of the measures taken by the government in its first year suggest that it is implementing an essentially populist-reformist agenda with indigenous symbolic content.The paper is divided into five parts. First, I examine the history, ideology, and changing class composition of the party over time. Second, I analyze the ways in which the MAS has responded to the two most important demands of the social movements: the constituent assembly and the nationalization of the hydrocarbons sector. Third, I provide a brief survey of the labor market, mining industry, and land reform processes in the first year of the administration, with specific attention to which classes and class fractions are the primary beneficiaries of reform measures. Fourth, I examine the relationship between the MAS administration and Venezuela and Cuba, exploring the impacts of these relationships on the domestic Bolivian scene. Fifth, and finally, I study the character of social movement-state relations under the MAS administration and examine possible future trajectories of the regime. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As several researchers have observed, there has been a recent shift in the World Bank?s theory and practice of development assistance. Unlike the purely market-centred approach that influenced the structural adjustment programs of the 1980s, which rest on an overriding concern for monetary discipline and state retrenchment, the ?post-Washington consensus? that emerged in the late 1990s emphasises the importance of institutions for capitalist development and places greater emphasis on ?participation? and ?empowerment?. However, the World Bank?s analysis of the manner and degree to which ?institutions?, ?participation? and ?empowerment? matter in development remains wedded to neoclassical/neoliberal notions of economic development and institutions. Based upon a case study of the privatisation of the urban water utility in La Paz-El Alto, Bolivia, this papers subject the World Bank?s notions of ?participation? and ?empowerment? to a theoretical and practical critique. First, I show that ?participation? in the context of urban water management has primarily been used as a means to justify the marketization of water resources and the externalisation of costs onto users, particularly the poor. Second, I argue that the World Bank?s notion of ?empowerment? refers exclusively to collective action by users to guarantee service delivery. As its hostile reaction to anti-privatization struggles in Bolivia demonstrates, the World Bank continues to regard political movements that threaten the sanctity of property rights and the primacy of free markets as symptomatic of poor people who do not recognise their own interests. The paper thus argues that similar to the old ?Washington consensus,? the new development paradigm will fail to provide practical development solutions that will improve human security in the South. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will focus on the contradictions between Evo Morales' role as president of Bolivia and his role as an Indigenous leade. Since Evo Morales came into office in 2006, he has talked about the "refounding" of Bolivia. He has pursued policies that a ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse the patterns of continuity and change in the relation between Chile and Bolivia with regards to Bolivia’s demand of a sovereign access to the ocean. Chile’s position on this issue has traditionally been a status-quo one ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to rational theories, the struggle for control of nonrenewable natural resources revolves primarily around issues of self-interest, power, and wealth. Such theories, though, are deficient when placed in the context of the Andean region. They offer little analytic leverage in explaining the motivations behind indigenous actors. They do not offer any insight into how indigenous interests are formulated, and are unable to account for instances when indigenous actors act in a manner that is ostensibly at odds with rationalists? thin view of self-interest. These issues are particularly important in the Andes not only because nonrenewable resources are a lucrative export, but also because of the destabilizing effects of the highly politicized battles surrounding them.Building on fieldwork that will be conducted in Bolivia and Ecuador in fall of 2006, this paper argues for an alternative perspective that seeks to correct these shortcomings. I argue that in order to understand indigenous groups? positions in these debates, one must look beyond rationalists? thin view of self-interest and instead take into account indigenous identities, histories, and norms. These features, I argue, will present a socially-constructed view of self-interest that is strikingly different from the one offered by theorists of rational choice, and will thus help resolve instances when rational choice theory fails. Nonrenewable resources, I ultimately argue, not only represent the struggle for control of a lucrative sector and means to secure political power, but also represent a cultural struggle, where the articulation of the indigenous and state?s identity is at stake. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decisions made at the supranational level by international financial institutions (IFIs) have a tremendous impact on local policies in developing countries. Privatization of public utilities is part of the broader neoliberal reform package pushed by IFIs such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Latin American countries have implemented these reforms since the 1980s with varying degrees of success. In some cases, privatization has been met with resistance, social upheaval, and the formation of social movements that oppose private control of public services. Social movement groups and NGOs often cite the lack of consultation with civil society about these policies as evidence of a democratic deficit within the IFIs. Water privatization is a policy area where claims about the lack of democratic accountability at the supranational level have emerged. My paper examines these claims in the context of Bolivia, where several attempts to privatize municipal water systems have failed as a result of NGO and social movement mobilizations against the policy. I analyze water privatization policy in Bolivia from 1996 to present using a policy design approach (Schneider and Ingram 1997). This approach to policy analysis asserts that policy designs have a direct impact on opportunities for democracy and citizenship. My analysis traces the formation of policy goals, policy rationales and assumptions, implementation structures, and the corresponding implications for democratic accountability and civil society participation. I also analyze whether the policy design created opportunity structures for social movements to emerge and push for change (Meyer 2004). Through a discursive analysis of documents associated with the privatization process and its subsequent reversal, I explore where NGO and civil society voices had access to the international organizations involved, and where they did not. This analysis includes official documents issued by the Bolivian government and the World Bank, public documents from media sources, social movement literature, and secondary sources on the policy implementation and outcomes. I conclude that the policy design of water privatization in Bolivia had negative consequences for democracy and active citizen participation. However, the policy design also created openings for social movements to emerge and challenge both the policy and the lack of democratic accountability of the supranational bodies involved with the policy implementation. This analysis illuminates the impact of a lack of democratic accountability at the supranational level, and offers insight into how civil society involvement can address the democratic deficit within international organizations. The conflict over water privatization in Bolivia can be viewed within the context of a broader North-South cleavage, which emerges as social movements from the Global South challenge policies emanating from Northern-based international organizations. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article concerns the rise of the new social movements in South America since the early 90's and their impact on the politics of the region. The "bolivian indigenous movement" is the case study in question. I argue that this actor is fundamental for un ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing countries have observed neoliberal globalization norms at the behest of international financial institutions and powerful state actors, often to the effect of economic instability, negative growth and domestic social upheaval. Recently however ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few years, a series of conflicts has arisen between Petrobras â€" the Brazilian oil company â€" and some governments and social actors in other South American countries where the company has investments in hidrocarbons. These conflicts have highlighted a double logic â€" statist and private at the same time â€" underlying Petrobras´ activities abroad. On the one hand, Petrobras is a mixed capital company (more than 50% of its capital belongs to private investors, but Brazilian government keeps company control), running operations in 24 countries (nine of them in South America). On the other hand, the company is an agent of Brazilian foreign policy, committed to the goals of regional integration and stability, being, in addition, the main responsible for Brazilian energy security. This article explores some of these contradictions against the background of the economic liberalization of the 90s (when the company started its operations abroad) and within the current scenario of challenges to neoliberal reforms and emerging “resource nationalism”. In the past decade, Petrobras’ internationalization benefited from privatization of other state-owned energy companies in South America, and from the opening of domestic markets to transnational corporations. With the the rise of governments hostile to the neoliberal model and the empowerment of social actors opposed to the Washington Consensus, Petrobras began to face serious difficulties in its regional operations. As a consequence, Brazilian foreign policy has had to deal with new and unexpected impasses. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late-twentieth century Latin America has faced the tasks of consolidating democracy and advancing economic growth and social equity. While most countries of the region have failed at least in some measure, some have failed catastrophically. In the latter, economic stagnation, social disaffection, and the decay of political parties have generated new social movements and leaders whose aim is to reconstruct economic and political institutions. These developments have challenged neo-liberal economic and democratic political orthodoxy. In short, Latin America has witnessed the rise of parties and regimes that bear striking similarities to the leftwing populism of the mid-twentieth century, a phenomenon most observers had considered largely defunct. Venezuela, Bolivia, and quite possibly Ecuador and Nicaragua’s governments are rallying to the banner of “twenty-first century socialism”â€"a slogan that betokens an attempt to move their countries in a profoundly new economic and political direction. Once in power, however, these movements face many of the same challenges of the mid-twentieth century populists transforming mass movements and personalistic leadership into durable political institutions and moving beyond temporarily serendipitous economic circumstances to a viable progressive economic model. Bolivia illustrates many of the general problems faced by other countries in the region and highlights the role of economic nationalism and indigenous political movements. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing Gramscian analysis, this project examines the transformative and regressive potentials emanating from contemporary populist state-society complexes in Venezuela and Bolivia. Contextualized within Coxian conceptions of historical structure, I argue these state forms represent a significant break from past manifestations of Latin American populism in two dimensions. First, patterns of 'passive revolution' are not reproduced as these societies reject neoliberal developmental models through alternative domestic and regional initiatives challenging traditional domestic and global historical blocs. Second, populist governments in Venezuela and Bolivia frame increased participation and citizenship to formerly excluded groups as a first step to transform 'deeper' issues surrounding capitalist social relations. Despite these emancipatory dynamics, Venezuela's 'radical Caesarism' contains a series of regressive tendencies exacerbated by resurgent US supremacy and remains dependent on oil sales that help drive broader forces of capitalist accumulation. Bolivia's radical populism 'from below', while sharing similarities to Venezuela, perhaps offers greater long-term transformative potential in the current geopolitical framework. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A homogenized political economic globe cannot occur due to the variance in world-views between those who are powerful internationally and those who are powerful locally. Powerful international actors have the ability to diffuse institutions across the globe, but they do not have the power to see those institutions implanted into domestic arenas without modification. This is particularly true in democratic settings, where the identities and interests of substate or local groups and leaders can have direct bearing on the livelihood of state leaders and the health of the democracy itself. In such cases, state leaders must include concessions to substate actors in order to legitimize newly diffused institutions. As we see in the Bolivia case, diffusing foreign institutions into such democratic settings carries a risk, namely that granting concessions in order to appease substate actors could in turn empower these actors and provide them with a window of opportunity for remaking the domestic polity. Diffusion may make for entirely unintended consequences. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the participation of relevant actors for the implementation of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, a poverty reduction strategy, in Bolivia. The initiative aims to improve the outlook for long-term development and poverty reduction by minimizing debt for countries that have shown good economic performance. It explains the importance of foreign aid and their donors to poverty elimination. It suggests that Bolivia should use the Catholic Church to incorporate all citizens into the traditional political structure.

For this study, I focus on Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, its historical origins, and what it holds for the future of energy security, development, and democracy in Venezuela, Latin America, and beyond. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves outside o ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hugo Chavez's rise to power has produced deep political changes in Venezuela's foreign policy. One of the pillars of the so-called "Bolivarian Revolution" led by Chavez has been the promotion of an independent foreign policy, aimed at creating a multipolar world while fostering a model of regional integration based on the ideas of Simon Bolivar. This strategy has strained Venezuela's relations with the United States. Although Venezuela has continued doing business with the United States, Chavez has challenged the United States by establishing close relations with traditional U.S. rivals such as Iran, Cuba, and China. In doing so, Chavez wants to promote a multipolar world. Similarly, Chavez has rejected the U.S. proposal of creating a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a project described by the Venezuelan president as colonialist. As a response to the FTAA, Chavez has furthered the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), a supposedly new modality of regional integration. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]