Comment: Boliviaās āplurinational revolutionā has an uncertain future Published on: 26 November 2019 Writing for The Conversation, Lorenza Fontana discusses the political crisis in Bolivia. , Just over a decade ago in late January 2009, I was standing in front of the Palacio Quemado, the government headquarters in the heart of the Bolivian administrative capital La Paz, amid a crowd of euphoric Bolivians. A quilt of national tricolour flags and multicolour wiphalas, the traditional Andean flags, was waiting for President Evo Morales to appear and celebrate the overwhelming results of a referendum that had just ratified a new constitution. That was perhaps the last epic moment of the āplurinational revolutionā that began with Moralesās election in 2005 and the installation of the first Bolivian government led by a popular coalition of peasant and indigenous movements. Today, the epic tale of has reached a tragic end. Morales and most of his close political entourage after mass protests and pressure from the military precipitated a political crisis triggered by the disputed results of Octoberās presidential elections. Since Moralesās departure, confrontations between his supporters and armed forces have dead and hundreds wounded. The UN in late November that the unrest could āspin out of controlā. The political crisis has sparked a deep polarisation between those condemning an āillegitimate coupā and those celebrating the āreturn of democracyā in Bolivia. This polarisation has grown out of the complexity of Moralesās legacy, his governmentās unprecedented achievements and its inability to overcome authoritarian tendencies. A nation changed This dramatic outcome for a government that still showed rates of support after 14 years in office was hardly predictable, even for its political opponents. The longstanding political loyalty of many Bolivians to Morales is partly due to the fact that he represented traditionally excluded sectors of society, mainly peasant and, at least initially, indigenous peoples. He also cultivated pragmatic relationships with economic elites and the armed forces. At the same time, cautious management of the economy, particularly of the revenues from natural resource exports, supported significant efforts to redistribute the countryās wealth. During Moralesās time in office, the number of people in extreme poverty fell from . Bolivia also transitioned to become . Alongside other countries of the so-called ā the wave of leftist governments elected across Latin America in the first decade of the new millennium ā Moralesās Bolivia embraced a commitment to championing socio-economic rights, as well as newer rights, such as cultural and environmental rights. Some key examples were the creation of indigenous autonomous territories, as well as the historic 2010 , which guaranteed the rights of nature. Concentration of power The alleged in October was the tipping point that led to Moralesās ousting. However, it followed a series of violations, manipulations and peculiar interpretations of fundamental democratic principles by the government. At the same time, little had been done to strengthen Boliviaās institutions. As my colleague , in Bolivia, as in other like-minded countries in the region, the strengthening of socio-economic, cultural and environmental rights came at the expense of other rights, namely political rights and civil liberties. According to data from and , Bolivia is significantly below the Latin American average in its respect for association and organisation rights, freedom of expression and belief, rule of law and personal autonomy and individual rights. One of the root causes of this problem was the concentration of power in the hands of a strong and close executive, with a strict control over the state apparatus and authoritarian ways of managing dissent. Few incentives existed for co-operation with the opposition, or for a collegial approach to power that would favour leadership transitions. In the classic Latin American tradition of strongman leadership, Morales tried to perpetuate his power by circumventing democratic institutions and the will of the majority. He ignored the in which Bolivians voted no to his re-election and, with the support of a Constitutional Tribunal, changed the constitution to for a fourth mandate. Moralesās government was also incapable of including the urban middle classes in its reform process. It was the who strongly reacted to his abuses of power and eventually took to the streets of major Bolivian cities demanding his resignation. An uncertain future Morales certainly holds political responsibility for the conditions underlying the current crisis. But rather than focusing on his administrationās culpability, itās now urgent to address the question of how to safeguard the process of social and economic inclusion that he started. Over the past few decades, Bolivia has transformed in a way that many considered irreversible ā but perhaps it was premature to assume that. In recent weeks there has been a resprouting of racism and intolerance in Bolivia and the rise of a new ultra-right opposition with . These should be warning signs for a country, and a region, where revolutions and counter-revolutions are all too common avenues of political expression. , Marie SkÅodowska-Curie Global Fellow, This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the . 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