PLURINATIONAL STATE AND INTERCULTURAL DEMOCRACY IN BOLIVIA

In 2009, a new Political Constitution came into effect which defines an unprecedented State model: the Plurinational State. This model is characterized by the juridic, economic, linguistic, cultural and political pluralism based on the acknowledgment of the collective rights of indigenous peoples. In its political side, it express the acknowledgment of the communitarian democracy – systems of election and selection that follow indigenous practices and customs – that is articulated with the direct and participative democracy. The variable combination of rules and institutions of these three kinds of democracy configures the intercultural democracy. This State model condenses the political project of the Movimento al Socialismo (Movement for Socialism – MAS), a political party that has dominated the political scene in Bolivia for more than a decade under the leadership of Evo Morales, who won three consecutive elections: 2005, 2009, 2014. In this article, we sketch the outlines of the political and institutional configuration in effect since the promulgation of the new Political Constitution in 2009, and the characteristics of the political process – called “process of change” - started by the end of 2005 with the first electoral victory of the MAS, more than a decade ago.

Intercultural Democracy; Plurinational State; Evo Morales; Change Process; MAS