The Transformation of Democracy in Bolivia and Ecuador: Justice Conflicts in the Negotiation of Political Change
Since the turn of the century, indigenous and social movements across Latin America have increasingly challenged the model of liberal democracy that had been almost undisputed during the 1990s. In Bolivia and Ecuador, under the governments of Evo Morales and Rafael Correa, these challenges translated into far-reaching constitutional reforms. The ongoing transformation of democracy in the two countries is shaped, inter alia, by a direct clash of different governance concepts, with the mainstream model of liberal (“good”) democratic governance competing with alternative (partly indigenous) ideas that refer to forms of direct, participatory and communitarian democracy, a “plurinational” conception of the state, and local (collective, indigenous) autonomy. Although a basically democratic regime (so far) remains in place in both countries, the struggle about the future shape of the political order calls into question basic rules of the game and specific principles of justice that had formed the basis of respective political systems since the transition to democracy. The transformation of democracy is, therefore, both prone to (violent) conflict and shaped by claims to legitimate entitlements (i.e., justice claims).
The project analyzes the transformation of democracy in Bolivia and Ecuador as contentious processes of negotiating complex justice conflicts. The overall research question is: To what extent and how does the type of justice claim influence (limit/fuel) conflict escalation in processes of transforming democracy?
- Estado y poder empresarial en Bolivia, Ecuador y Perú | 2024
Crabtree, John / Durand, Francisco / Wolff, Jonas (2024): Estado y poder empresarial en Bolivia, Ecuador y Perú, Lima, La Paz, Quito: Fondo Editorial PUCP, https://www.fondoeditorial.pucp.edu.pe/(...).
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- La riqueza como instrumento político | 2024
Crabtree, John / Durand, Francisco / Wolff, Jonas (2024): La riqueza como instrumento político. Estudio comparativo del poder empresarial y matices de la desigualdad en los países de los Andes Centrales, in: Stoessel, Soledad/Coronel, Valeria (Hg.), La (des)regulación de la riqueza en América Latina. Lecturas interdisciplinarias en tiempos de pospandemia, Buenos Aires: CLACSO, 295–317, https://libreria.clacso.org/publicacion.php?p=3057&c=39.
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- Después de la tormenta | 2023
Wolff, Jonas (2023): Después de la tormenta. La élite económica boliviana entre la negociación pragmática y el conflicto político latente, in: Nercesián, Inés/ Robles-Rivera, Francisco/Serna, Miguel (Hg.), Las Tramas del Poder en América Latina: Élites y Privilegios, Buenos Aires/ Ciudad de México: CLACSO, 229–249.
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- Amérique latine: qu’ont obtenu les mobilisations populaires? | 2021
Wolff, Jonas (2021): Amérique latine: qu’ont obtenu les mobilisations populaires?, in: Alternatives Economiques, Hors-Série, 122, 44–45, www.alternatives-economiques.fr/(...).
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- Las élites económicas en la Bolivia contemporánea | 2020
Wolff, Jonas (2020): Las élites económicas en la Bolivia contemporánea, in: Souverein, Jan/Exeni Rodríguez, José Luis (eds), Nuevo Mapa de Actores en Bolivia. Crisis, polarización e incertidumbre (2019-2020), La Paz: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Bolivia, 139–163, www.library.fes.de/(...).
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- One year later: The legacy of Latin America’s 2019 mass protests | 2020
Wolff, Jonas (2020): One year later: The legacy of Latin America’s 2019 mass protests, PRIF Blog, 17.12.2020.
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- Nach Morales: Bolivianische Restauration? | 2020
Wolff, Jonas (2020): Nach Morales: Bolivianische Restauration?, in: Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik, 41–44, https://www.blaetter.de/ausgabe/2020/oktober/nach-morales-bolivianische-restauration.
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- The Turbulent End of an Era in Bolivia: Contested Elections, the Ouster of Evo Morales, and the Beginning of a Transition Towards an Uncertain Future | 2020
Wolff, Jonas (2020): The Turbulent End of an Era in Bolivia: Contested Elections, the Ouster of Evo Morales, and the Beginning of a Transition Towards an Uncertain Future, in: Revista de Ciencia Política, Ahead of Print, 1–24, DOI: 10.4067/S0718-090X2020005000105.
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- Zurück in die Zukunft? | 2020
Wolff, Jonas (2020): Zurück in die Zukunft? Bolivien ringt um das Erbe der Regierung Morales, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Dossier „Bolivien vor den Wahlen: Stimmen aus einem Land in der Zerreißprobe“, 24.8.2020.
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- From driver of change to marginalised actor | 2020
Abdalla, Nadine / Wolff, Jonas (2020): From driver of change to marginalised actor. Organised labour in post-revolutionary Egypt from a comparative perspective, in: Journal of North African Studies, 25:6, 918-938, DOI: 10.1080/13629387.2019.1644917.
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- Democracy | 2020
Wolff, Jonas (2020): Democracy, in: Kaltmeier, Olaf/Tittor, Anne/Hawkins, Daniel/Rohland, Eleonora (eds), The Routledge Handbook to the Political Economy and Governance of the Americas, London: Routledge, 341–349.
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- The political economy of post-neoliberalism in Bolivia. Economic policies, economic elites, and the MAS government | 2019
Wolff, Jonas (2019): The political economy of post-neoliberalism in Bolivia. Economic policies, economic elites, and the MAS government, in: European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 108, 109–129, DOI: 10.32992/erlacs.10468.
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- Commentary to Featured Q&A: Is Evo Morales Overstaying His Welcome in Bolivia? | 2018
Wolff, Jonas (2018): Commentary to Featured Q&A: Is Evo Morales Overstaying His Welcome in Bolivia?, Latin American Advisor (Inter-American Dialogue), Washington D.C., 12.12.2018.
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- Beyond Maduro. Why the Latin American left-wing populism is much more complex than the failing government of Venezuela | 2018
Wolff, Jonas (2018): Beyond Maduro. Why the Latin American left-wing populism is much more complex than the failing government of Venezuela, International Politics and Society, 17.10.2018.
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- Ecuador after Correa. The Struggle over the "Citizens' Revolution" | 2018
Wolff, Jonas (2018): Ecuador after Correa. The Struggle over the "Citizens' Revolution", in: Revista de Ciencia Política, 38:2, 281-302, http://www.revistacienciapolitica.cl/(...).
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- Las élites políticas y económicas en Bolivia y Ecuador | 2018
Wolff, Jonas (2018): Las élites políticas y económicas en Bolivia y Ecuador. Convivir con gobiernos posneoliberales, in: Adriano; Codato/Fran; Espinoza (eds), Élites en las Américas. Diferentes Perspectivas, Curitiba: Editora UFPR, 73–114.
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- Political Incorporation in Measures of Democracy | 2018
Wolff, Jonas (2018): Political Incorporation in Measures of Democracy. A Missing Dimension (and the Case of Bolivia), in: Democratization, 1–17, (published online).
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- Towards Postliberal Democracy in Latin America? | 2013
Wolff, Jonas (2013): Towards Postliberal Democracy in Latin America? A Conceptual Framework Applied to Latin America, in: Journal of Latin American Studies, 45:1, 31-59, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022216X12000843.
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- New Constitutions and the Transformation of Democracy in Ecuador and Bolivia | 2012
Wolff, Jonas (2012): New Constitutions and the Transformation of Democracy in Ecuador and Bolivia, in: Nolte, Detlef/Schilling-Vacaflor, Almut (eds), New Constitutionalism in Latin America. Promises and Practices, Farnham: Ashgate, 183-202.
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- La nueva Constitución de Bolivia | 2012
Wolff, Jonas (2012): La nueva Constitución de Bolivia. Un comentario desde la teoría de la democracia, in: Ernst, Tanja/Schmalz, Stefan (Hg.), El primer gobierno de Evo Morales. Un balance retrospectivo, La Paz: Plural, 77-91.
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- Weniger Ungleichheit durch postliberale Demokratie? | 2012
Wolff, Jonas (2012): Weniger Ungleichheit durch postliberale Demokratie? Eine Analyse mit Blick auf Bolivien, in: Muno, Wolfgang/Lauth, Hans-Joachim/Kestler, Thomas (Hg.), Demokratie und soziale Entwicklung in Lateinamerika, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 111-137.
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- Movimientos sociales y la lucha por la democratización de la democracia. | 2012
Wolff, Jonas (2012): Movimientos sociales y la lucha por la democratización de la democracia. Experiencias recientes en América del Sur, in: Kron, Stefanie/Costa, Sérgio/Braig, Marianne (Hg.), Democracia y reconfiguraciones contemporáneas del derecho en América Latina, Frankfurt/M: Vervuert, 297-322.
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- Demokratie in Bewegung | 2012
Wolff, Jonas (2012): Demokratie in Bewegung. Neue soziale Bewegungen und die umkämpfte Demokratisierung der Demokratie in Argentinien, Bolivien und Ecuador, in: Burchardt, Hans-Jürgen/Öhlschläger, Rainer (Hg.), Soziale Bewegungen und Demokratie in Lateinamerika. Ein ambivalentes Verhältnis, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 77-91, https://www.nomos-shop.de/(...).
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- Postliberal Democracy Emerging? | 2012
Wolff, Jonas (2012): Postliberal Democracy Emerging? A conceptual proposal and the case of Bolivia, PRIF Working Papers No. 11, Frankfurt/M.
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- Frieden trotz Umbruch. | 2012
Wolff, Jonas (2012): Frieden trotz Umbruch. Eine Analyse der ausbleibenden Gewalteskalation in Boliviens „demokratischer Revolution", in: Zeitschrift für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, 1:2, 219-248, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/2192-1741-2012-2-219.
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- Postneoliberal verfasst? | 2010
Wolff, Jonas (2010): Postneoliberal verfasst? Ein vergleichender Blick auf die neuen Verfassungen in Bolivien und Ecuador, in: Kritische Justiz, 43:4, 407-415, https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/(...).
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