The lessons of Bolivia

Faguet, Jean-Paul ORCID: 0000-0002-7188-0098 (2018) The lessons of Bolivia. Journal of Democracy, 29 (4). pp. 89-101. ISSN 1045-5736

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Abstract

Across the West, political-party systems are disintegrating from the bottom up, as economic and social changes cause them to loose their moorings in the major cleavages that defined politics throughout the twentieth century. The experience of Bolivia, where an underinstitutionalized politics disintegrated earlier and faster, may offer analytical hints about the larger future. In societies where industrial workers as a self-conscious group have dwindled, a left-right axis of political competition based on the opposition between workers and capital is probably doomed. Identity politics anchored in ethnicity, religion, and place will most likely replace it. This is dangerous for democracy, as identity politics revolves around exclusive categories and zero-sum games. The rise of identity clashes is a sad turn for the West that may forever change who we are.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://muse.jhu.edu/journal/98
Additional Information:	© 2018 Johns Hopkins University Press
Divisions:	International Development
Subjects:	J Political Science > JC Political theory
Date Deposited:	25 Oct 2018 09:57
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2024 21:44
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/90504

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