Indigenous attitudes toward the political system in Bolivia

[EN] Bolivia has experienced remarkable political transformation since the turn of the 21st century. After centuries of political exclusion, indigenous peoples5 helped bring the first nationally successful indigenous political party to power, winning majorities in the legislature and the executive. The MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo, or Movement towards Socialism) and President Evo Morales, who took office in 2005, represented a historic shift in the political power and engagement of indigenous people in Bolivia. Unlike many ethnically based political parties, however, the MAS has adopted an inclusive approach to indigenous identity (Anria, 2013, 2018; Madrid, 2008, 2012). In this paper we investigate how indigenous people view the political system before and after this historic change in representation. In particular, we focus on indigenous peoples’ support for the political system, comparing attitudes of indigenous and non-indigenous people before and after the election of Evo Morales and the MAS

Legitimacy and Policy during Crises: Subnational COVID-19 Responses in Bolivia

Why did some Bolivian departments have more success containing COVID-19 than others? We argue that low government legitimacy hampers coordinated responses to national crises, particularly where political polarization is severe and the crisis response becomes politicized. Low legitimacy can intensify the challenges of poverty and poor infrastructure. An original dataset of daily observations on subnational coronavirus policy and cell phone mobility data, paired with administrative data on cases and deaths, suggests that political divisions influenced governors’ policy implementation and citizens’ compliance. In departments that opposed the president, policies were more likely to deviate from the stricter national policy while mobility and protest activity were high. In departments aligned with the president, local policy followed national policy and citizens complied with policy and quarantine restrictions for a longer period of time

Compounding Crises: Bolivia in 2020

Bolivia began 2020 in the midst of a political crisis, with an interim administration led by Jeanine Añez, who assumed power during the political crisis that ended the administration of Evo Morales in November 2019. On March 10th, the government identified Bolivia's first COVID-19 case. The administration's swift initial response was marred by corruption, a strained public health system, and resistance from citizens and politicians. This essay focuses on the unprecedented character of a double crisis in Bolivia: a health crisis preceded and aggravated by a political crisis. The crises put the Bolivian government under intense pressure. The thrice-rescheduled presidential elections on October 18th returned the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) to power with a decisive victory under the leadership of former finance minister Luis Arce Catacora and former foreign minister David Choquehuanca. We review the consequences of the year's events on human and economic development and conclude by anticipating future challenges

Poverty, precarious work, and the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons from Bolivia

Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in Latin America with a gross domestic product of around US$3500 per capita, health spending of approximately$220 per capita, a labour market dominated by informal work, and a weak health system. However, in the response to COVID-19, Bolivia has fared better than other health systems in the region and provides insight with regard to the implementation of subnational non-pharmaceutical interventions and supporting workers without social protection. The Bolivian Government confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in the country on March 10, 2020, and responded quickly by cancelling events, closing schools and borders, and implementing a national lockdown on March 22, 2020. However, the Bolivian Government was under pressure to open the economy in an election season. In response, the Bolivian Government shifted responsibility for most non-pharmaceutical interventions to departmental and municipal governments on June 1, 2020. The Bolivian Government maintained a mask mandate, school and border closures, and a nightly curfew, while allowing departmental and municipal governments to set workplace, social gathering, population mobility, and public transit policies. Daily deaths from COVID-19 increased markedly from 20 on June 1, 2020, to 96 on Aug 1, 2020.1 &nbsp;</p

Poverty and Political Participation in Latin America

Join the LAII and the Department of Political Science for the second presentation in the Spring 2018 LAII Lecture Series, as Dr. Carew Boulding presents on poverty and political participation in Latin America. Boulding is Associate Professor of Political Science and the University of Colorado Boulder. She holds a PhD from the University of California San Diego, and is the author of the book, NGOs, Political Protest, and Civil Society, published by Cambridge University Press in 2014. She is currently working on a new book on poverty and political participation in Latin America. She has also worked on NGOs and credit-claiming, the impact of participatory budgeting on well-being, political competition and social spending, and voter turnout in Bolivia and Brazil, civil society and support for democratic political systems, and attitudes of indigenous people toward the government in Bolivia. Her work has been published in Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Latin American Research Review, Party Politics, Studies in Comparative International Development, and World Development. Event sponsored by Department of Political Science, Latin American and Iberian Institute (with support from the US Department of Education Title VI).https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/laii_events/1064/thumbnail.jp

Protest, voting and political change : the effects of NGOs on politics in developing democracies

This dissertation examines the political effects of NGOs in developing democracies. There is a large and contradictory literature on whether, how, and why NGOs affect politics. Some argue that NGOs are an essential component of a strong civil society necessary for democratic consolidation. Others argue that NGOs are co- opted by the existing hierarchy of political elites, and politicians claim credit for the services they provide, damaging democratic accountability. I argue that NGOs have systematic effects on politics in two realms: participation and voting behavior. First, I agree with the conventional wisdom that NGOs tend to boost participation of all kinds. However, I argue that - particularly in weakly democratic settings - NGOs are likely to encourage unconventional means of participation such as demonstrations and protest in addition to more conventional forms such as voting. This is a strong challenge to the common assumption in the literature that NGOs are the bulwark of moderate civil society. Second, I argue that the effects of NGOs on voting behavior are conditional on the size of the jurisdiction in question. Existing work predicts starkly contradictory political effects: Some claim NGOs should help incumbents by providing services for which politicians can claim credit, while others claim they should hurt incumbents by facilitating opposition. I argue that both these effects are possible, but in different contexts. In areas with very small populations, the associational effects of NGOs (their ability to bring people together, air common grievances, and build trust to help solve collective action problems) are much stronger, making it more likely that NGO activity will strengthen opposition politics. In larger population areas, however, the effects of increases in association are relatively much smaller. And, in the more impersonal setting of larger cities, credit-claiming for NGO services is easier. Thus, NGOs in larger cities are likely to help incumbents, rather than help the opposition. I test my argument and competing hypotheses from the literature using a new approach: an analysis of an original sub-national dataset comparing municipalities in Bolivia. The dataset includes measures of NGO activity, election returns, and protest, as well as a number of controls, for two time periods, 1999 and 200

Voice, Votes, and Resources: Evaluating the Effect of Participatory Democracy on Well-Being

Participatory governance is said to enhance governance, citizens’ empowerment, and the quality of democracy, creating a virtuous cycle to improve the well-being of the poor. However, there is limited empirical evidence for this relationship. Drawing from an original database of Brazil’s 220 largest cities, we assess whether the adoption of a participatory budgeting (PB) program is associated with changes in social spending or changes in several indicators of well-being. We find that PB municipalities spend a slightly higher share of their budget on health and education programs, but there is little evidence that this shift in budget priorities affects measurable outcomes

Voice, Votes, and Resources: Evaluating the Effect of Participatory Democracy on Well-being

Summary Participatory governance is said to enhance governance, citizens' empowerment, and the quality of democracy, creating a virtuous cycle to improve the well-being of the poor. However, there is limited empirical evidence for this relationship. Drawing from an original database of Brazil's 220 largest cities, we assess whether the adoption of a participatory budgeting (PB) program is associated with changes in social spending or changes in several indicators of well-being. We find that PB municipalities spend a slightly higher share of their budget on health and education programs, but there is little evidence that this shift in budget priorities affects measurable outcomes.Participatory governance Participatory budgeting Social well-being Local government resources Latin America Brazil