The Rise of Evo Morales and the MAS

Sven Harten

Evo Morales is one of the world's most controversial political leaders. His story is extraordinary: poor shepherd-boy, persecuted coca grower, self-professed admirer of Ché Guevara, hero of the anti-globalization movement, and first indigenous president of modern Latin America. The story of the social movement turned political party he is a part of -- the Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS) -- is also exceptional: originally founded as a splinter of an ultra-right party, it was given as a gift for the coca growers after they had been banned several times for spurious reasons to register their own party, and went on to become an irresistible force for indigenous rights in Bolivia.

In this insightful and revealing book, Sven Harten explains the success of the MAS and its wider consequences, showing how Morales has become the symbol for a new political consciousness that has entailed de-stigmatizing indigenous identities. In many ways, the analysis of Morales's political trajectory serves as a mirror for democracy in Bolivia. It reveals the challenge of squaring the rupture with a discredited past with the continuity of democracy and the aim of representing an entire society.

The Rise of Evo Morales and the MAS is a fascinating examination of an extraordinary individual and a unique social movement.

Reviews

'This is an important book on an important topic. The story of how the Bolivian MAS emerged will be of interest to all those interested in parties and democracy in Latin America. Sven Harten provides a readable, informed, insightful and theoretically grounded account which adds substantially to our understanding of contemporary Bolivian politics.' -- Dr John Crabtree, Latin American Centre, University of Oxford

'The extraordinary tale of Evo Morales and Bolivia's Movimiento Al Socialismo was one of the most uplifting news stories at the turn of the twenty-first century, as the indigenous peoples of Latin America seized their chance to change the history of the last five hundred years. Sven Harten describes these riveting developments with intelligence, inside knowledge and close attention to detail. Anyone concerned with contemporary Latin America should have this book in their library.' -- Richard Gott, former foreign correspondent for The Guardian; author of Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution

'To the outside observer, Bolivia can seem like an impenetrable place. This invaluable book surely rectifies the problem. Through his impeccably researched and extensive dissection of Bolivia's political culture, Harten usefully frames the rise of Evo Morales upon the national stage.' -- Nikolas Kozloff, author of Revolution! South America and the Rise of the New Left

'Sven Harten delivers a fascinating multidimensional portrait of Evo Morales and the MAS, putting Bolivia's first indigenous, socialist president into the relevant historical, political, biographical and radical social movement perspectives. Indispensable reading for English-speaking followers of Latin America's revolutionary Pink Tide.' -- Professor John Foran, University of California

'An extraordinarily knowledgeable account of the rise of one of Latin America's most fascinating political leaders. Harten's book follows Morales's political journey from the grassroots to the presidency and in parallel analyses the political and social changes of the past decade in Bolivia. A must-read for anybody interested in contemporary Latin American history.' -- Dr Francisco Panizza, The London School of Economics and Political Science

Preface: A Journey

PART I

1. Bolivia's Political History
- Crisis of Representation in Bolivia
- From Revolution to Dictatorship to Transition: 1952 - 1978
- Bolivian nationalism - a brief history
- Origins of Bolivian nationalism
- The 1952 Revolution and the Nacionalismo Revolucionario
- Assimilationist Nation
- Democratic Institutions sine Democratic Politics
- Coca: A brief sketch of a damned holy plant
- War on Drugs

2. Evo's youth and upbringing
- Evo
- Evo's University: Looking for another form of democracy
- School of Democracy
- Relative structurality of signifiers: origins of Evo Morales's notion of the nation

3. Rise of Coca Growers (mid 1980s to early 1990s)
- History of the Coca Growers' Movement
- Structuring Force of Society
- Internal functioning
- Formalized Organizational Structure
-The Assemblies
- Type and Sequence of Meetings
- Leadership
- Coca Discourse: Defending the sacred leaf
- Uniting heterogeneity in a chain of equivalence
- From stigmatized plant to symbol of sovereignty

PART II

4. Morales's Political Instrument? The creation of MAS (early 1990s)
- Brief history of the 'Instrumento Político' MAS
- MAS: a bottom-up perspective of the party
- Movement-Cum-Party
- Old wine in new bottles or really something new?
- President Morales: a product of the reforms of his adversaries?
- Long-term Grievances

5. Outside challengers rise amidst waves of protests (1995-2002)
- Second Generation Reforms
- Party Politics - Where is the 'silent revolution'?
- Waves of Conflicts
- War on drugs
- The Year 2000: a turning point?
- Guerra del Agua in 2000
- Guerra del Gas or Octubre Negro 2003
- Conclusion

6. MAS rises to political dominance (2002-2005)
- Reaching out to other social movements
- Lack of clear structures: A new form of doing politics?
- Institutionalizing party structures
- Opening the party lists
- Leadership
- Characteristics of leaders
- Election of candidates
- Organizational problems

7. Compañero Evo: The Symbol of the Pluricultural People
- The People
- Who are The People?
- Mobilizing people to become 'The People'
- The People and the Exercise of Power
- Construction of Identity
- 'The people' in Morales's discourse
- Somos MAS, Somos el Pueblo
- Who constitute 'the people' in Bolivia?
- Implications of the new articulation of 'the people'
- Conclusion

PART III

8. Bolivia´s first indigenous President (2005-2010)
- Bolivia under President Morales
- Morales: Nationalist and Populist?
- The Imagining of the Nation as 'Nation of Nations'
- The 'Plurinational' Nation
- Filling the 'Plurinational' Nation with Meaning
- What holds the diversity together
- Imagining the nation: recovering its sovereignty
- Imagining a 'productive' nation: re-thinking development
- Dignity
- A new imaginary of the nation: challenging existing power relations

9. Refounding the State – The Foundational Promise of Populism
- Introduction
- Building a New State - What had to change?
- Recover and Refound the State
- The Target of Change: Defining the StateError! Bookmark not defined.
- Refounding the New State - Alternative Form of Modernity
- Principles of a New State
- Relationship between culture and the state
- The Path to Change: Asamblea Constituyente
- Great Expectations: Constituent Assembly as collective ritual
- Bolivia's New ConstitutionError! Bookmark not defined.
- Analyzing the Role of the State
- Conclusion

10. Conclusion: The difficult road ahead President Morales and the MAS
-The dangerous path towards re-institutionalization

About the Author:

Sven Harten has done extensive fieldwork in Bolivia, and holds a PhD in Political Science from the London School of Economics (LSE). He currently works as Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for the IFC-World Bank Group in Lima, Peru.

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