This thesis examines the impact of the recent recognition of indigenous autonomy in Bolivia on democracy in that country. Over the past several decades, the Bolivian central government has attempted to improve the quality of democracy in the country through reforms aimed at political decentralization and the inclusion of indigenous citizens, the countrys largest, historically marginalized group. In that spirit, President Evo Morales ratified Bolivias newest constitution in 2009, which legalizes self-determination for indigenous communities, upholding their right to define their own local political, economic and judicial systems. Nevertheless, this reform has failed to deepen democracy in the country for two reasons. First, there are inherent tensions between indigenous political systems and liberal democracy. Second, indigenous autonomy has been implemented in a top-down fashion in Bolivia, a process from which indigenous peoples were largely excluded.
<p>While I argue that indigenous political systems must undergo several modifications to make them more democratic, these changes should be born out of serious dialogue between the state and indigenous communities, instead of being imposed from above without heeding the observations of indigenous actors. However, in Bolivia, the latter was the case. Thus, I argue, indigenous autonomy has reinforced the marginalization of indigenous peoples in Bolivia, diminishing the quality of democracy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-03272011-113624 |
| Date | 12 April 2011 |
| Creators | Voth, Hillary |
| Contributors | Jonathan Hiskey, Miriam Shakow |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-03272011-113624/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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