Reversing Emancipation?
Amid Bolivia’s current economic crisis, mining cooperatives remain key actors due to their strong capacity for (self-)employment and their deep-rooted historical presence in popular sectors. Their significance was reflected in their recognition in the 2009 Plurinational Constitution as a constituent sector of the country's "plural" economy. However, the strength of this sector has paradoxically led to weak regulations exposing miners to multiple risks, including the severe threat of silicosis.
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Coup, Revolution, or Negotiated Regime Change
All my Latin American students and not a few radical friends strongly claim that what took place in Bolivia was a coup, focusing on the military role. I hesitate to concede the point, to begin with because the previous extra-constitutional manipulation by President Evo Morales, concerning the most important legal issue under presidential governments, that of term limits, very much prepared his own down-fall.
Continue reading >>Justifying a Coup d’État in the Name of Democracy?
Why is there so much resistance to call the forced resignation of Bolivian President Evo Morales by it's name? To call these events a coup and at the same time to justify and/or being comfortable with them would involve an express rejection of democracy as “the only game in town” and amount to normalizing non-institutional and violent means for the handover of power. The case is a challenge for comparative constitutionalism in general.
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