Evo Morales and the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement towards Socialism, MAS) party captured the Bolivian presidency with a majority of the popular vote in 2005, a feat that was repeated in the 2009 presidential and legislative elections. The election of the MAS represented a sea change in the Bolivian polity. Not only did it express the popular classes’ will for political and economic change, but the election of Morales (an indigenous Aymara) was also symbolic, marking a radical break with mestizo elite control of the state apparatus. On coming to power, Morales called for a democratic and cultural revolution; this included fashioning a new economy geared towards helping people to ‘live well’ (vivir bien) in harmony with nature, and the reinvention of the state through the rewriting of the Constitution by a popularly elected assembly. In Evo's Bolivia, Farthing and Kohl draw on over 30 years of experience living and working in Bolivia to provide a highly personalised insiders’ account of the first two MAS administrations. The main questions they pose are: what has changed since Morales entered government? What has this historic turn accomplished? And, more broadly, is another world possible?
Most of the recent literature on Bolivia, particularly the mainstream press, is polarised. Conservatives have portrayed Morales and the MAS as a dangerous anti-democratic force determined to institute a socialist regime. Meanwhile, some on the Left believe that Morales can do no wrong. The authors aim to counter such double bias through a well-balanced analysis of the MAS in power. For Farthing and Kohl, the MAS represents neither the ‘revolt of the masses’ nor autonomous ‘constituent power’; rather, they argue that the MAS works within the pre-existing liberal framework but is nevertheless committed to instituting a substantive new state model. It is this conflict-ridden middle ground that forms the core of the book.
The authors acknowledge that Morales is a ‘front man’ for diverse movements and interests that have had an impact on fomenting the ‘process of change’. Thus, they tell the story from the bottom up. They speak to a broad range of informants – these include President Morales and his ministers, but also social movement leaders, activists and poor farmers and workers. The book has a distinctly anthropological feel. Rather than using traditional yardsticks to measure success, the authors assess how well the Morales administration has done with reference to the categories and values of Bolivia's social movements. While the book is thick with local detail, the authors are nevertheless careful to situate the discussion within the broader transformations sweeping the region.
The book starts by describing the country that the MAS inherited in 2006, including the legacy of colonialism, dictatorship and the neoliberal turn, which wreaked havoc on the region from the mid-1980s onwards. It then shifts gear to consider the radical changes enacted by the MAS and how these efforts have been constrained by structural factors including history, geography, population, economy and international relations. For example, chapter 4, ‘Reinventing the State’, examines how the MAS has attempted to reshape government itself. The central paradox here is that the MAS, which was originally composed of political outsiders who had little faith in the governing institutions, had no choice but to operate within the established political system. Not only did this impede the governments’ ability to incorporate grassroots decision-making processes, but well-established patterns of corruption, patronage and authoritarianism soon raised their heads. More worryingly still, on occasion Morales has walked roughshod over the grassroots movements that put him in power. Meanwhile, Morales’ ability to redesign the economy along more egalitarian and sustainable lines has been hampered by the nation's reliance on natural gas revenue and the dependence on foreign capital that this implies. Finally, the farming oligarchs in Bolivia's eastern lowlands have posed a serious threat to the Morales administration. These land-owning elites have set up paramilitary groups who have attacked MAS supporters, mounted obstacles to meaningful land reform and intermittently declared de facto regional autonomy.
The picture that emerges of Bolivia today is one of enormous challenges and considerable shortcomings. The government seems to lurch from one crisis to the next, with little capacity to enact its own agenda. The authors note that the government's core principles, including the ‘decolonisation’ of the state and ‘vivir bien’, remain fuzzy, ill-defined concepts that do not inform practice. Given the unrealistically high expectations that accompanied the MAS's accession to power, it is unsurprising that some grassroots activists feel disillusioned. This is evidenced by the proliferation of local-level road blockades and protests in recent years – the most forceful of which was a mass movement against the government's decision to cut fuel subsidies (a decision Morales quickly rescinded). The authors note complaints by many grassroots activists that the ‘October Agenda’ (the demands of the campesino and indigenous movements that brought Morales to power, including the adoption of a new Constitution, land reform and the nationalisation of gas) has yet to be fully implemented.
While the ‘new’ Bolivia might not look that different to the old one, the authors are at pains to point out the modest gains that have been achieved. Since Morales came to power the middle class has grown to encompass 10 per cent of the population, economic growth is greater than it has been in decades and there have been big advances in terms of civil and social rights. For example, cash transfers and investment in health and education have contributed to improving the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable sectors of society. There have been significant advances in terms of expanding the participation of women and indigenous peoples in government, and since Morales broke with the US-financed drug war, human rights abuses committed by the security forces have decreased dramatically. Thus, in answer to the book's core question, ‘is another world possible?’, Farthing and Kohl argue that it is, but it takes time. They note that Morales and the MAS cannot really be expected to decolonise the state, create jobs, industrialise the country and improve health and education overnight.
Over the past five years several books have been published charting the rise of the MAS, including contributions by Sven Harten, Jeffery Webber and James Dunkerley. What is unique about Evo's Bolivia is its breadth and accessibility. The text is interspersed with anecdotes and direct extracts from interviews; these combined voices provide a vivid and engaging window onto the process of change as it unfolds in Bolivia. The book makes Bolivia legible to the uninformed reader and would be excellent material for undergraduate teaching. Packed with critical insights into regional and global processes, Evo's Bolivia is also essential reading for anyone who is committed to progressive social change anywhere in the world. This book is a testimony to the achievement of Kohl and Farthing as scholars, but also to their commitment to promoting social and economic justice.
