Military Coups, Chronic Instability, and Populism in Bolivia

• In Event: Latin American Populism in between Democracy and Authoritarianism

Abstract

A new database of military coups d'etat reveals that Bolivia ties Argentina and Ecuador as the most coup prone political systems in the Americas, if not in the world (35 coups since 1900, 21 of which toppled the executive). The November 2019 resignation of President Evo Morales (along with his movement's protests that forced presidents to resign in 2003 and 2005) suggests that Bolivia remains unstable, even if Morales's departure from power, I point out, is not a coup. This paper explains why, despite leaving the coup trap in the early 1980s, Bolivians have been unable to forge stable and democratic institutions. This paper uses the Bolivian case to emphasize that chronic instability (as opposed to stable autocracy) generate a particular set of dynamics. It suggests that state weakness fuels the creation of interests and movements with short-term commitments to representative democracy. While both factors facilitate populism, they also can help prevent the reemergence of electoral autocracies. Chronic instability undermines the rule of law necessary for survivability of governments and the consolidation of democracy.

Author

• Fabrice Lehoucq, University of North Carolina, Greensboro