Movements and Parties in Morales’ Bolivia: An Organizational Approach to the Study of Populism

• In Event: New Perspectives on Populism

Abstract

The existing literature on the Latin American Left tends to loosely equate Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, with his “populist” counterparts in Venezuela, Ecuador, and Argentina. But the comparison is insufficiently nuanced, and it reveals a basic misunderstanding of the features of party organization and the dynamics of social mobilization that undergird Morales and his MAS (Movement Toward Socialism). This paper offers a new outlook on populism by focusing on the tensions that arise between the bottom-up logics of social mobilization associated with the emergence of the MAS, and the top-down logics associated with its rapid electoral expansion and functions as a governing entity. By looking at the internal structures of the MAS and the dynamics of popular mobilization in the streets, the article reveals how much organized popular constituencies allied with the MAS have pressured Morales from below and placed limits on his authority and ambitions. Specifically, it traces the creative policy formulation abilities of allied social movements, as well as their veto and counter-mobilization power. In so doing, the article moves beyond misguided debates of whether Morales is a populist or not to a more nuanced and rich understanding of the dynamic relationships between a charismatic leader and his political instrument for exercising rule.

Author

• Santiago J Anria, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill