Radical Bolivia? A Discourse Analysis of Bolivia's Indigenous Democracy

This research set out to examine Bolivia's indigenous democracy and the current demonstrations and protests by indigenous people in depth to gain an understanding of the manifestation of this phenomenon. It is guided by the research question of what explains the continued occurrence of social upheavals by indigenous peoples under the leadership of their democratically-elected indigenous president Evo Morales and his indigenous-dominated party MAS. The author examined the official and the marginalized discourses (government, indigenous organizations and Bolivian academics, and common Bolivian people) and their articulation of Bolivia's radical democracy and the identity of the Bolivian people to determine the way in which the Bolivian reality is produced. The analysis revealed that the different discourses, because of their different viewpoints, exhibit stark divergences in terms of how they view Bolivia today. They discursively construct Bolivia's identity differently, they express contrasting perspectives about how to best create a radical-indigenous democracy in which the well-being of its people is guaranteed, they use different measurements to assess the achievements of Morales' and MAS' administration, and they view their country's current attempt at constructing a radical-indigenous democracy differently. The author argues that these divergences in the discourses give rise to conflict between the three constituencies, which can escalate in social unrests and protests.