The United States and Bolivia’s Long Revolution: 1952-2005

• In Event: Más allá de la hegemonía y la Resistencia: ¿Redefiniendo relaciones entre Bolivia y Estados Unidos?

Abstract

Since Bolivia's National Revolution of 1952, periods of U.S.-Bolivian
cooperation have too often resolved into U.S. imposition and Bolivian
resistance creating cycles that have poisoned their relationship. But a
secular process has also been at work and Evo Morales is both symbol and
manifestation of that process. The paper will provide a “Northern”
perspective on the cyclical and secular dynamics of U.S.-Bolivian relations
since 1952. U.S. policy is both hegemonic and idealistic and Bolivian
policy has been alternately cooperative, fiercely resistive, and creatively
subversive. The conflicting elements of the relationship have created
tensions but have also provided space for a new and increasingly independent
Bolivia to emerge—the proclaimed goal of the 1952 revolution.

Author

• Ken D Lehman, Hampden-Sydney College