DOI: 10.53557/elecciones
banner Elecciones

Política contenciosa y adaptación estratégica: la derecha no tradicional después de Evo Morales

Contentious politics and strategic adaptation: the non-traditional right after Evo Morales

Authors

  • Gabriela Camacho Garland Orcid
    Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
  • DOI:
    https://doi.org/10.53557/Elecciones.2025.v24n29.06

    • Abstract

    This article examines the rise of the non-traditional right in Bolivia through strategic adaptation and the use of contentious politics following Evo Morales’ prolonged rule. Following the collapse of the party system and the consolidation of the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), opposition actors without formal party structures, especially in the eastern regions, adopted new forms of political action outside the institutional framework. Based on an analysis focused on resource mobilization, the exploitation of political opportunities (such as the fraud accusations in 2019), and the construction of democratic interpretive frameworks, the article argues that the protests that led to Morales’ resignation were not spontaneous, but instead the result of more than a decade of strategic learning. Furthermore, the article sustains that civic committees and regional organizations played a central role in articulating an effective opposition, capable of formulating their demands in democratic terms and overcoming previous narratives that presented them as racist or marginal actors. Using a contentious politics perspective, the article shows how this non-traditional opposition acquired convening power and disruptive capacity.

  • References:


    Anria, Santiago. 2013. “Social Movements, Party Organization, and Populism: Insights from the Bolivian MAS”. Latin American Politics and Society 55 (3): 19-46.

    Bowen, James David. 2014. “The Right and NonParty Forms of Representation and Participation: Bolivia and Ecuador Compared”. En The Resilience of the Latin American Right, editado por Juan Pablo Luna y Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser, 94-116. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Chenoweth, Erica. 2020. “The Future of Nonviolent Resistance”. Journal of Democracy 31 (3): 69-84. https://doi.org/ghv2pq

    Defensoría del Pueblo. 2009. Informe defensorial de los hechos de violencia suscitados en el mes de septiembre de 2008 en el Departamento de Pando. La Paz: Defensoría del Pueblo. https://bit.ly/3SG17Wy

    Eaton, Kent. 2014. “New Strategies of the Latin American Right: Beyond Parties and Elections”. En The Resilience of the Latin American Right, editado por Juan Pablo Luna y Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser, 75-93. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Edwards, Bob, John D. McCarthy, y Dane R. Mataic. 2019. “The Resource Context of Social Movements”. En The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, editado por David A. Snow, Sarah A. Soule, Hanspeter Kriesi, y Holly J. McCammon, 2a ed., 79-97. Nueva Jersey: Blackwell Publishing. https://doi.org/pqsw

    El Deber. 2024. “21F: Los 21 hechos que marcaron a Bolivia tras la victoria del No”. El Deber, 19 de febrero de 2024, sec. País. https://bit.ly/3ZSk9wy

    Gamboa, Laura. 2017. “Opposition at the Margins: Strategies against the Erosion of Democracy in Colombia and Venezuela”. Comparative Politics 49 (4): 457-77. https://doi.org/gbnx8f

    Gold, Tomás, y Alejandro M. Peña. 2021. “The Rise of the Contentious Right: Digitally Intermediated Linkage Strategies in Argentina and Brazil”. Latin American Politics and Society 63 (3): 93-118. https://doi.org/pqtd

    Gray Molina, George. 2010. “The Challenge of Progressive Change under Evo Morales”. En Leftist Governments in Latin America: Successes and Shortcomings, editado por Kurt Weyland, Raúl L. Madrid, y Wendy Hunter, 57-76. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/kdqj

    Haggard, Stephan, y Robert R. Kaufman. 2016. Dictators and Democrats. Princeton: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/pqp6

    Haggard, Stephan, y Robert R. Kaufman. 2021a. Backsliding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Human Rights Watch. 2019. “Bolivia: Eventos de 2018”. En Informe Mundial 2019. Human Rights Watch. https://bit.ly/3ZhfJ2d

    Kaplan, Stephen B. 2014. “The Political Economy of Macroeconomics Policymaking: Economic Crises and Technocratic Governance”. Presentado en 2014 annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, 3-9 de abril. https://bit.ly/4ksQ4fv

    Krausova, Anna. 2023. “Resisting Redistribution with Recognition: A Radical Neoliberal Countermovement in Santa Cruz, Bolivia”. En The Right against Rights in Latin America, editado por Leigh A. Payne, Julia Zulver, y Simón Escoffier. Londres: British Academy, 205-28. https://doi.org/pqsz

    Lehoucq, Fabrice. 2020. “Bolivia’s Citizen Revolt”. Journal of Democracy 31 (3): 130-44. https://doi.org/ghv2pt

    Levitsky, Steven, y Kenneth M. Roberts. 2011. “Introduction: Latin America’s “Left Turn”: A Framework for Analysis”. En The Resurgence of the Latin American Left, editado por Steven Levitsky y Kenneth M. Roberts. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.

    Luna, Juan Pablo, y Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. 2014. “Introduction: The Right in Contemporary Latin America: A Framework for Analysis”. En The Resilience of the Latin American Right, editado por Juan Pablo Luna y Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Luna, Juan Pablo, y Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. 2021. “Castigo a los oficialismos y ciclo político de derecha en América Latina”. Revista Uruguaya de Ciencia Política 30 (1): 135-55. https://doi.org/gkkhfq

    Mayka, Lindsay, y Amy Erica Smith. 2021. “Introduction: The Grassroots Right in Latin America: Patterns, Causes, and Consequences”. Latin American Politics and Society 63 (3): 1-20. https://doi.org/pqsx

    Mayol, Alberto. 2019. Big bang. Estallido social 2019. Modelo derrumbado – Sociedad rota – Política inútil. 1a ed. Santiago de Chile: Catalonia.

    Mayorga, René Antonio. 2004. “La crisis del sistema de partidos políticos en Bolivia: causas y consecuencias”. Cuadernos del Cendes 21 (57): 83-114.

    McAdam, Doug, y Sidney Tarrow. 2019. “The Political Context of Social Movements”. En The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, editado por David A. Snow, Sarah A. Soule, Hanspeter Kriesi, y Holly J. McCammon, 2a ed., 79-97. Nueva Jersey: Blackwell Publishing. https://doi.org/pqsw

    McAdam, Doug, Sidney Tarrow, y Charles Tilly. 2001. Dynamics of Contention. Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/pqsv

    Molina, Fernando. 2020. “Los ‘pititas’, el movimiento contra Evo Morales que llega a las elecciones de Bolivia partido en dos”. El País, 13 de octubre de 2020, sec. Elecciones en Bolivia. https://bit.ly/3FHC1n8

    Murillo, María Victoria, Virginia Oliveros, y Milan Vaishnav. 2010. “Electoral Revolution or Democratic Alternation?” Latin American Research Review 45 (3): 87-114. https://doi.org/pqst

    Órgano Electoral Plurinacional. 2019. “Publicación de resultados nacionales. Elecciones Generales 2019”. Órgano Electoral Plurinacional. https://bit.ly/3FJmPWM

    Redacción BBC. 2019. Elecciones en Bolivia: suspenden el recuento provisional de votos cuando todo apuntaba a una segunda vuelta entre Evo Morales y Carlos Mesa. BBC News, 21 de octubre de 2019, sec. Mundo. https://bit.ly/3Zmx7ma

    Smith, Amy Erica. 2019. Religion and Brazilian Democracy: Mobilizing the People of God. Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/k7bg

    Snow, David A., E. Burke Rochford, Steven K. Worden, y Robert D. Benford. 1986. “Frame alignment processes, micromobilization, and movement participation”. American Sociological Review, 51 (4): 464–481.

    Snow, David, y Robert Benford. 1988. “Ideology, Frame Resonance and Participant Mobilization”. International Social Movement Research, n. ° 1, 197-217.

    Stefanoni, Pablo. 2014. “Evo, el ex villano”. Panamá Revista, 15 de octubre de 2014. https://bit.ly/3SBqKrx

    Stefanoni, Pablo. 2020. “Las lecciones que nos deja Bolivia”. Nueva Sociedad, 5 de marzo de 2020. https://bit.ly/45IlfyN

    Tarrow, Sidney. 2011. Power in Movement. Social Movements and Contentious Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 3a ed. https://doi.org/gsb2cp

    Tilly, Charles, y Sidney Tarrow. 2015. Contentious Politics. 2a ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Uggla, Fredrik. 2009. “Bolivia: A Year of Living Dangerously”. Revista de ciencia política (Santiago) 29 (2): 247-73. https://doi.org/bnmr3s

    Valdivia Rivera, Soledad. 2021. “Protest State and street politics: Bolivian social movements in the 2019–2020 crisis”. En Bolivia at the Crossroads, editado por Soledad Valdivia Rivera, 1a ed. Londres: Routledge.

    Weyland, Kurt. 2014. Making Waves. Democratic Contention in Europe and Latin America since the Revolutions of 1848. Nueva York: Cambridge University Press.

    Zamorano Villarreal, Gabriela. 2020. “Indigeneity, Race, and the Media from the Perspective of the 2019 Political Crisis in Bolivia”. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies 29 (1): 151-74. https://doi.org/pqss

    • Author Biography

    Gabriela Camacho Garland, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

    Coordinadora de investigación en Transparencia Internacional. Politóloga por la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú y doctora en ciencia política por la Universidad Humboldt de Berlín. Se desempeñó como investigadora en la Universidad de Aarhus, especializada en métodos cualitativos. Sus  investigaciones y publicaciones abordan temas sobre democracia, corrupción, políticas públicas, métodos cualitativos, evaluación de políticas de desarrollo y elecciones en Perú y América Latina.