JUNE 2020

“Vivir Bien: Tracing the Ethos of Plural Progress in Bolivia”

KIRRA KLEIN

ARTICLES

Published June 2020

ABSTRACT

In thirteen years, Bolivia went from the poorest country in South America to 
providing a model for inclusive sustainable development and post-colonial 
nation-building. Today, the world is suffering increasing political polarity, 
climate change, and an enduring global socioeconomic divide, stemming from 
imperialism. I looked to Bolivia to find an alternate mode of development that 
challenged the anthropocentric approach to power and took a non-prescriptive, 
cooperative approach to building a path forward. I explored three revolutions, 
examining their motivating ideologies and their relative successes. I studied 
primary historical and philosophical texts, and I undertook fieldwork in Bolivia, 
conducting surveys and interviews with individuals across identities and 
ideologies. The Andean collectivist tradition guided Bolivia through three 
iterative revolutions. For each, it cultivated a shared (1) motivation for rebellion, 
(2) rhetoric, (3) body of cultural commonality, and (4) notion of effective 
development. The most successful of these revolutions was the 2000-2005 
political movement which combined Andean collectivism with the country's 
national-popular tradition. The post-revolutionary government found success in 
extending the Andean ethos, developing a sustainable national project by unifying 
diverse peoples on a common path: an incremental, adaptive, and collaborative 
revolution guided by vivir bien.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33682/xv99-dccp
PDF

HOW TO CITE (CHICAGO):
Klein, Kirra. "Vivir Bien: Tracing the Ethos of Plural Progress in Bolivia." The Interdependent 1 (2020): 78-111. https://doi.org/10.33682/xv99-dccp