Abstract
This chapter is an overview of the contemporary political struggles over land in Bolivia, focusing on continuities and potential changes before and after the tumultuous political upheaval of 2019 and 2020. Starting with the legacies of the government of Evo Morales, the chapter sketches out the primary areas of conflict that Bolivian activists and movements are facing going forward. During the Morales government, there was a shift from a more progressive approach to land reform (roughly 2006 to 2012) toward a conciliatory arrangement with eastern Bolivia’s agro-industrial elite (from 2013 to 2019). Four areas are examined in more detail: gender and land; the battle over GMOs, the fires in the Amazon and Indigenous territorial autonomies. The political upheaval that led to Morales’s ouster in 2019 was a reflection of the power of the agro-industrial elite. The return of the MAS government in 2020 may or may not bring a return to more progressive land policy.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Bolivia at the Crossroads |
| Subtitle of host publication | Politics, Economy, and Environment in a Time of Crisis |
| Publisher | Taylor and Francis |
| Pages | 81-100 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781000385618 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780367707729 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 23 2021 |