The Viability of South American Regional
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THE VIABILITY OF SOUTH AMERICAN REGIONAL INTEGRATION: BOLIVIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY IN THE INTEGRATION PROCESS By KELLY C. STILLER TITCHENER Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Bachelor of Arts in Political Science Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma 2006 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University In partial fulfillment of The requirements for The Degree of Geography MASTER OF SCIENCE July, 2010 THE VIABILTY OF SOUTH AMERICAN REGIONAL INTEGRATION: BOLIVIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY IN THE INTEGRATION PROCESS Thesis Approved: Dr. Dale Lightfoot Dr. Dale Lightfoot (Co-chair) Dr. Jacqueline Vadjunec Dr. Jacqueline Vadjunec (Co-chair) Dr. Joel Jenswold Dr. Joel Jenswold Dr. A. Gordon Emslie Dean of the Graduate College ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis is dedicated to my patient, caring, adventurous, and understanding husband, Jack D. Titchener, who has supported me and dealt with me during this entire process. Muchas gracias por tu apoyo. I would like to thank my family (Rick, Sherry, and Ian) for their understanding and backing throughout life and graduate school, and to my family-in-law (Dru, Dan, and Dru) for always supporting us, and our love of travel. Thanks very much to my father and husband for all their editing help. I would like to thank my dear aunt, Shelley Jackson, who has generously helped me through graduate school. Additionally, I would like to thank my dear uncle, Joseph Keelty for his continued generosity. I would like to thank Dr. Dale Lightfoot for his help in recent months, his always-insightful questions, feedback, and guidance, his passion for travel, and the always-welcoming feeling that graduate students notice in our department. I would like to thank Dr. Jackie Vadjunec for her help in recent months, help with contacts in South America, and her guidance and suggestions during a readings course on Bolivian identity and identity politics. Her help was especially insightful in understanding first the complex nature of identity, and second the consequences of identity within the Latin American context. To Dr. Joel Jenswold, I thank you for the many years of guidance, support, encouragement, and fantastic classes you lead. I enjoyed them all and always wished I could take more of your classes. I would like to thank Dr. Reuel Hanks for persuading me to apply to this geography program and for suggesting to me the potential of political geography in my academic career. I would also like to thank Dr. Hanks for his help in the creation and previous guidance of this project. I would like to thank the Department of Geography at Oklahoma State University for all the financial support, recognition, teaching experience and guidance, and opportunities that I have been presented with by enrolling in this program. I would like to thank all of the faculty and staff of the department who have made my experience very positive, informative, and challenging. I would like to again thank Dr. Stephen Tweedie for the Tweedie Travel Scholarship I received in 2008. The scholarship helped immensely in the preliminary research phase of this thesis. Finally, I would like to thank all the Bolivian survey respondents who participated in this investigation. Gracias a todos que me han ayudado en este proceso. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................1 Research Questions ..................................................................................................3 Study Area ...............................................................................................................4 II. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW: Latin American Regional Identity, Regional Integration, and Bolivia ...........................................................................................7 Introduction ..............................................................................................................7 Background on Regional Integration Efforts ...........................................................8 Regional Integration in Latin America ..................................................................10 Recent Latin American Regional Integration Efforts ......................................12 South American Regional Integration Efforts .................................................13 The Southern Common Market ...........................................................14 The Andean Community ......................................................................17 The Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas ...........................................20 The Union of South American Nations ...............................................23 Bolivia within this context .....................................................................................27 Conclusion .............................................................................................................38 III. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................................................................40 Introduction ............................................................................................................40 Studies on Identity .................................................................................................41 Studies on National Identity...................................................................................42 Studies on Latin American National Identity ........................................................45 Studies on Bolivian National Identity ....................................................................50 Studies on Latin American Regional Identity ........................................................53 Studies on Regional Integration and National Identity ..........................................57 Cultural and Political Ecology Studies on Identity Politics ...................................61 Conclusion .............................................................................................................63 iv Chapter Page IV. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................65 Introduction ............................................................................................................65 Survey Demographics ............................................................................................66 Survey Design ........................................................................................................67 Content Analysis Design........................................................................................71 National Identity ...........................................................................................72 Local Identity ................................................................................................76 Supranational Identity ...................................................................................80 National Identity Symbols ...................................................................84 Local Identity Symbols ........................................................................85 Supranational Identity Symbols ...........................................................87 V. FINDINGS .............................................................................................................88 Introduction ............................................................................................................88 Comparison of Survey Data to Bolivian Census Data ...........................................90 Gender Comparison ......................................................................................90 Age Comparison ...........................................................................................92 Language Comparison ..................................................................................93 Locations of Respondents ......................................................................................96 Opinions on Elements of National Sovereignty.....................................................99 National Currency- el boliviano....................................................................99 Border Control ............................................................................................101 Passport Control ..........................................................................................102 National Anthem .........................................................................................103 Opinions on Regional Integration ........................................................................104 Regional Comparison..................................................................................109 Overall Opinions on Regional Integration ..................................................109 Content Analysis Results .....................................................................................111 National Identity .........................................................................................112 Hybrid Identities .........................................................................................116 Local Identity ..............................................................................................118 Supranational Identity .................................................................................122 Scope, Limitations, and Suggestions ...................................................................123