University of Bath PHD From National to Pluri-National: Rethinking the transformation of the Bolivian state through struggles for autonomy Matthes, Britta Katharina Award date: 2018 Awarding institution: University of Bath Link to publication Alternative formats If you require this document in an alternative format, please contact: [email protected] General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 07. Oct. 2021 From National to Pluri-National: Rethinking the transformation of the Bolivian state through struggles for autonomy Britta Katharina Matthes A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Bath Department of Social and Policy Sciences October 2017 COPYRIGHT Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis/portfolio rests with the author and copyright of any previously published materials included may rest with third parties. A copy of this thesis/portfolio has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it understands that they must not copy it or use material from it except as permitted by law or with the consent of the author or other copyright owners, as applicable. 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................ 6 Abstract .................................................................................................................................................................. 7 List of tables and graphics ...................................................................................................................................... 8 Table of abbreviation .............................................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 11 1.1. The pluri-national state: Idea and recent debates on the practical experiments ............................... 12 1.2. Identifying the gap and filling it by rethinking the state ..................................................................... 18 1.3. Taking the pluri-national specificity more seriously by looking at self-determination/autonomy ..... 19 1.4. Research aim, objectives and questions ............................................................................................. 21 1.5. Potential contributions and relevance ................................................................................................ 22 1.6. Outline of chapters ............................................................................................................................. 23 Chapter 2. Approaching state transformation in contemporary Latin America ................................................... 25 2.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 25 2.2. New left regimes ................................................................................................................................. 25 2.3. The thesis of a 'strong(er) state', or neo-developmentalism vs. neo-extractivism ............................. 27 2.4. The state in post-neoliberal times or a post-neoliberal state? ........................................................... 30 2.5. Harnecker and 21st century socialism ................................................................................................. 32 2.6. Relational approaches ......................................................................................................................... 34 2.6.1. Neo-Gramscian thought in International Relations and Global Political Economy .................... 34 2.6.2. Ecuador and Bolivia through Gramscian lenses ......................................................................... 36 2.7. Summing-up ........................................................................................................................................ 37 Chapter 3. Approaching the state’s colonial colouring and state transformation in Bolivia ................................ 39 3.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 39 3.2. The colonial question in (Latin American) Marxism ............................................................................ 39 3.2.1. Mariátegui and Guevara: land reform and anti-imperial/colonial struggles .............................. 39 3.2.2. Gramsci in Latin America and Zavaleta on heterogeneous social formations ........................... 41 3.2.3. Reformist and radical dependistas ............................................................................................. 42 3.3. The state and (de)coloniality in a post-colonial world ........................................................................ 43 3.4. The thinkers of the Bolivian comuna .................................................................................................. 45 3.4.1. The comuna ................................................................................................................................ 45 3.4.2. García Linera as a 'collective intellectual' ................................................................................... 47 3.4.3. Tapia Mealla, the impossibility of hegemony and moving the state out of the centre ............. 49 3.5. Summing-up ........................................................................................................................................ 50 2 Chapter 4. Epistemological-theoretical framework, methodological approach and research design ................. 52 4.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 52 4.2. Addressing post-colonial and subaltern/ de-colonial critiques ........................................................... 52 4.2.1. Misleading Euro-centric approaches? ........................................................................................ 52 4.2.2. The need to go beyond binary thinking...................................................................................... 53 4.3. Towards an alternative approach: The notion of form ....................................................................... 55 4.3.1. Development of the notion of the state as a form ..................................................................... 55 4.3.2. The CSE debate and Open Marxism ........................................................................................... 60 4.3.3. Reconsidering the question of '(de-)colonising' the CSE/Open Marxism approach ................... 65 4.4. Methodological approach and research design .................................................................................. 68 4.4.1. Form-analysis ............................................................................................................................. 68 4.4.2. Scope of form-analysis ............................................................................................................... 69 4.4.3. Research methods ...................................................................................................................... 72 4.4.4. Ethics .......................................................................................................................................... 79 4.5. Summing-up ........................................................................................................................................ 82 Chapter 5: A periodisation of previous political modalities ................................................................................. 84 5.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 84 5.2. Pre-colonial times and the ayllu .......................................................................................................... 84 5.3. The colonial modality: From primary resources to primary globalisation .......................................... 85 5.4. The caudillo modality: The nascent independent state and 'anarchic' capitalism ............................. 89 5.5. The exclusive liberal modality: Laissez-faire modality and gold, silver and tin booms ....................... 94 5.6. The military socialist modality: Between old order and revolution .................................................... 99 5.7. The inclusive nationalist modality: An