ABOUT THIS BOOK

The landslide election of Evo Morales in December 2005 pointed toward a process of accelerated change in Bolivia, forging a path away from globalization and the neoliberal paradigm in favor of greater national control and state intervention. This in turn shifted the power relations of Bolivia's internal politics-beginning with greater inclusion of the indigenous population-and altered the nation's foreign relations. Unresolved Tensions engages this realignment from a variety of analytical perspectives, using the Morales election as a lens through which to reassess Bolivia's contemporary political reality and its relation to a set of deeper historical issues.

This volume brings together an expert group of commentators and participants from within the Bolivian political arena to offer diverse perspectives and competing views on issues of ethnicity, regionalism, state-society relations, constitutional reform, economic development, and globalization. In this way, the contributors seek to reassess Bolivia's past, present, and future, consider the ways in which the nation's historical developments flow from these deeper currents, and assess the opportunities and challenges that arise within the new political context.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

John Crabtree is a research associate at the Centre for Latin American Studies, University of Oxford. He is the author of Peru under Garcia: An Opportunity Lost; The Great Tin Crisis; and Making Institutions Work in Peru: Democracy, Development, and Inequality since 1980. Crabtree is the editor or coeditor of several other works, including Towards Democratic Viability: The Bolivian Experience (with Laurence Whitehead).

Laurence Whitehead is an Official Fellow in Politics at Nuffield College, Oxford University. Whitehead is the author or editor of numerous books, including most recently: Latin America: A New Interpretation; Democratization: Theory Interpretation; and Emerging Market Democracies: East Asia/Latin America.

REVIEWS

“Summarizes with clarity and candor the momentous issues that have formed the core of debates about change in this Andean nation since the landslide victory of Morales in December 2005, debates which seem to come to a head in the constitutional debate.”
—Latin American Review of Books

“Unresolved Tensions is a very important book about Bolivia's modern history. With insight and clarity, it explores the major themes that are at the center of conflicts about the past and present of the country and provides competing visions of its future.”
—Merilee S. Grindle, Harvard University

“Bolivia is passing through an extraordinary period of democratic turbulence in which formerly consensual ideas are being challenged as never before. This unusual and polemical collection of essays by some of the leading scholars of Bolivia is an important introduction to this political discussion. Readers will find here a good summary of sharply differing positions on the fundamental issues that have emerged since the election of Evo Morales.”
—Herbert S. Klein, Stanford University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

<Crabtree, Contents>
<p. v, no folio, p. vi, cont'd or blank>
Contents
List of Figures, Maps, and Tables 000
Acknowledgments 000
Introduction: A Story of Unresolved Tensions John Crabtree 1
Part I: On Ethnicity 000
1. The "Long Memory" of Ethnicity in Bolivia and Some Temporary Oscillations Xavier Alb¿ 000
2. Let the Mestizos Stand Up and Be Counted Carlos Toranzo 000
3. Oversimplifying Identities: The Debate over What Is Indigena and What Is Mestizo Diego Zavaleta Reyles 000
Part II: On Regionalism 000
4. Regionalism Revisited Jos¿ Luis Roca 000
5. Oppressed or Privileged Regions? Some Historical Reflections on the Use of State Resources Rossana Barrag¿n 000
Part III: On State-Society Relations 000
6. State-Society Relations: The Strength of Weakness George Gray Molina 000
7. The Weakness of Excess: The Bolivian State in an Unbounded Democracy Franz Xavier Barrios Suvelza 000
Part IV: On Constitutionalism 000
8. The Development of Constituent Power in Bolivia Eduardo Rodr¿gez Veltz¿ 000
9. Constitution and Constitutional Reform Luis Tapia 000
Part V: On Strategies of Economic Development 000
10. Gas and Its Importance to the Bolivian Economy Carlos Miranda 000
11. Beyond Gas: Between the Narrow-Based and Broad-Based Economy Fernanda Wanderley 000
Part VI: On Globalization 000
12. Bolivia in a Global Setting: Economic Ties Juan Antonio Morales 000
13. The Perverse Effects of Globalization in Bolivia Carlos Arze Vargas 000
Conclusions: Bolivia's Latest "Refoundation" Laurence Whitehead 000
Notes 000
Bibliography 000
List of Contributors 000
Index 000

REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you with an electronic file for alternative access.

Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.

It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.