Rethinking revolution in the Andes: Contrasting logics of social transformation in Bolivia

Abstract

Indigenous movements throughout the Andes have put forward the idea of plurinationalism as a theoretical concept of social transformation. Plurinationalism demands a complete overturning of the existing state structure and a rethinking of the idea of the national collective and social formation undergirding a given nation state. In essence, plurinationalism, through a variety of both ideological and material programs and processes, recognizes and incorporates the various distinct indigenous nationalities that comprise a social formation into a unified state apparatus while maintaining and expanding those communities’ powers of autonomy, self-governance, and cultural and economic reproduction. Plurinationality, therefore, can be understood to represent the most fundamental and critical endeavor put forward by Bolivia's largely indigenous popular classes over the past two decades. Not only does the concept challenge our understanding of the modern socio-political formations of the nation state, but it also offers a distinct perspective on the notion of revolution.