This book makes an important contribution to an understanding of today’s political struggles in Bolivia by linking them with long-standing tensions and conflicts. The editors called together scholars with diverse viewpoints for two conferences in 2006 and 2007, shortly after indigenous union leader Evo Morales and the Movement toward Socialism (Movimiento al Socialismo, MAS) won their first landslide election victory. The book that resulted from the meetings is divided into six sections on ethnicities, regionalism, state-society relations, constitutionalism, economic development, and globalization.
John Crabtree’s brief introductions to the book and its various sections do an excellent job of situating Bolivia’s current politics within a history of conflict and marginalization of indigenous peoples. He then leaves the reader to assess the sometimes complementary but frequently divergent viewpoints presented in each section.
The first section, with three papers on ethnicity, presents the most engaging debate. Anthropologist Xavier Albó has the deepest insights,...
