State Governance and Micropractices of Power in the Process of Decolonizing the State in Bolivia

Abstract

This article investigates how multiple and nuanced micropractices of power work through everyday bureaucratic actions in the course of major state transformations. It argues that it is not solely the grand ideological battles or global asymmetries of power that impede the implementation of revolutionary political alternatives. More attention should be paid to the internal functioning of state governance and its micropractices of power in processes of change. Empirically, it examines the process of decolonizing the state in Bolivia, where the notion of Vivir Bien (Living Well) has been introduced into policy-making processes since 2006. Initially, it was portrayed as a democratizing, decolonizing, and ecological policy alternative deriving – to an extent – from indigenous cultural heritage that provides locally grounded solutions to societal problems. While many of the outcomes of the shift in public policy have been critically assessed, there is still a lack of showing how difficulties in implementation emerge. By discussing the contested nature of everyday bureaucratic practices in Evo Morales’ Bolivia, this article tries to fulfill the gap. It is demonstrated that multiple everyday techniques, procedures, and routines of the state continue to create and reproduce various forms of coloniality. The ethnographic evidence of the continuation of neoliberal rationalities suggests that it is these exact – and assumingly insignificant – bureaucratic routines that derogate Vivir Bien transformation agenda internally. Consequently, together with opposition and outright racism by public servants, it is shown that deep ruptures have emerged between political rhetoric of decolonization and concrete everyday actions amidst state bureaucracy.

Keywords:

• Vivir Bien
• decolonization
• governance
• state bureaucracy
• micropractices of power
• Bolivia

Notes on contributor

Eija Ranta is university lecturer in development studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland, and an associate researcher at the Centro Latinoamericano de Ecología Social (CLAES), Uruguay. She holds a PhD in Development Studies from the University of Helsinki. She has conducted ethnographic fieldwork on decolonizing political alternatives, development policy-making, and state formation processes in Bolivia and Kenya. For more information: https://tuhat.helsinki.fi/portal/en/person/emranta

ORCID

Eija Ranta http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6978-6174

Notes

1 A version of this article formulates the first half of Chapter Five in my forthcoming book Vivir Bien as an Alternative to Neoliberal Globalization: Can Indigenous Terminologies Decolonize the State? (Routledge 2018).

2 The concept of Buen Vivir is utilized in the context of Ecuador.

3 For a criticism of the assumed indigenous origins of the notion of Vivir Bien, see, for example, Portugal Mollinedo (2017).

4 Recognized by the constitution (2009), Bolivia’s 36 indigenous nationalities, including the Quechua (31 per cent), the Aymara (25.23 per cent), and minor groups such as the Guaraní, Chiquitano, Mojeño, and others (6.10 per cent), make up approximately 63 per cent of the total Bolivian population (Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo 2004, p.104). In the 2012 census, however, the number of those self-identifying as indigenous dropped to approximately 40 per cent (Postero 2017, p.182).

5 The ethnographic fieldwork on the discourses and practices of Vivir Bien was conducted between 2008 and 2009 for the purpose of PhD thesis (Ranta 2014). Additionally, I lived in Bolivia for a total of 13 months in 2001 and 2002, when I volunteered and worked in an indigenous NGO and UN office. Since the fieldwork period, I have maintained systematic communication with various informants through e-mails and social media. I have also conducted a few formal follow-up interviews in 2016 and 2017 through skype. The article also draws on critical engagement with recent state policy documents and academic literature.

6 This and later definitions are my own translations from Aguirre’s power point presentations.

7 After the approval of the new constitution, the Vice-Ministry was renamed Viceministerio de Justicia Indígena-Originaria-Campesina.

8 Kichwa word for Buen Vivir.

9 A pseudonym.

10 A pseudonym.

11 Excerpt from Flavio’s power point presentation.