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Evo Morales, transformismo , and the consolidation of agrarian capitalism in Bolivia
Author(s) -
Webber Jeffery R.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of agrarian change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.63
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1471-0366
pISSN - 1471-0358
DOI - 10.1111/joac.12209
Subject(s) - agrarian society , peasant , capitalism , state (computer science) , consolidation (business) , indigenous , ruling class , political economy , alliance , capital (architecture) , class conflict , presidency , political science , economic system , sociology , economics , agriculture , politics , geography , law , accounting , archaeology , ecology , algorithm , computer science , biology
This paper argues that, despite claims to the contrary, there has not been extensive, egalitarian reform in Bolivia since Evo Morales assumed the presidency in 2006. In order to explain agrarian processes in the country during the decade under Morales thus far (2006–2016), it examines the changing balance of agrarian class forces in Bolivian society and associated changes in the class composition of the ruling bloc between 2006 and 2010. It divides contestation over agrarian reform processes during this decade into two periods—one of insurgent contestation (2006–2009), and one of agro‐capital–state alliance (2010–2016). The transformations in class alliances over these periods can be understood theoretically through Gramsci's concept of transformismo (transformism). In particular, this concept captures both the way in which leading layers of indigenous–peasant movements have been absorbed into the apparatuses of the state and thus decapitated, and the dialectic of transformation/restoration that characterizes Bolivia's ongoing “process of change”.