No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Trial by Fire: Informal Agreements, Destructive Protest, and Civil Society in Bolivia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2022
Abstract
Civil society leaders develop relationships with officials and engage in contentious politics. Some resort to destructive tactics like arson and assault to target the officials they work with. Why do civil society leaders use destructive protest tactics? This article argues that leaders use destructive tactics when both they and officials need clear information and when leaders believe that officials will offer lucrative agreements to stop destructive protests. The research suggests that this dynamic is more likely in weakly institutionalized, highly politicized, and resource-strapped environments. The research supports the argument by process-tracing cases of peaceful and destructive protest by street vendor organizations and officials’ responses in El Alto, Bolivia. The argument and cases suggest that civil society leaders are more likely to target women and other minoritized people because leaders are more likely to underestimate minoritized officials, but that these officials are then more likely to punish the perpetrators.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 64 , Special Issue 2: The Politics of Informal Work , May 2022 , pp. 93 - 115
- Copyright
- © The Author 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the University of Miami
Footnotes
Conflicts of interest: The author declares none.
References
de Noticias Fides, Agencia. 2015. Organizaciones sociales decidían la contratación de personal en la Alcaldía de El Alto. Agencia de Noticias Fides, June.Google Scholar
Municipal de Noticias, Agencia. 2019. Un preacuerdo permite que gremiales de la asociación santa teresita desalojen predios ediles. Agencia Municipal de Noticias, February.Google Scholar
Albó, Xavier. 2002. Pueblos indios en la política. Cuadernos de Investigación no. 55. La Paz: Centro de Investigación y Promoción del Campesinado (CIPCA).Google Scholar
Albó, Xavier. 2008. Movimientos y poder indígena en Bolivia, Ecuador y Peru. Cuadernos de Investigación no. 71. La Paz: CIPCA.Google Scholar
Amengual, Matthew. 2016. Politicized Enforcement in Argentina: Labor and Environmental Regulation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anria, Santiago. 2016. Delegative Democracy Revisited: More Inclusion, Less Liberalism in Bolivia. Journal of Democracy 27, 3: 99–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anria, Santiago. 2018. When Movements Become Parties: The Bolivian MAS in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anria, Santiago, and Cyr, Jennifer. 2017. Inside Revolutionary Parties: Coalition-building and Maintenance in Reformist Bolivia. Comparative Political Studies 50, 9: 1255–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arbona, Juan, and Kohl, Benjamin. 2004. La Paz-El Alto. Cities 21, 3: 255–65. ATB. 2018. Gremiales apedrearon la casa de la cultura. Video. ATB Digital, July 25.Google Scholar
Auerbach, Adam. 2019. Demanding Development: The Politics of Public Goods Provision in India’s Urban Slums. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auyero, Javier. 2001. Poor People’s Politics: Peronist Survival Networks and the Legacy of Evita. Durham: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bakke, Kristin M., Gallagher Cunningham, Kathleen, and Seymour, Lee J. M.. 2012. A Plague of Initials: Fragmentation, Cohesion, and Infighting in Civil Wars. Perspectives on Politics 10, 2: 265–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, Andrew. 2010. Process Tracing and Causal Inference. In Rethinking Social Inquiry, ed. Henry Brady and David Collier. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield. 207–20.Google Scholar
Berenschot, Ward. 2011. The Spatial Distribution of Riots: Patronage and the Instigation of Communal Violence in Gujarat, India. World Development 39, 2: 221–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bodea, Cristina, and LeBas, Adriene. 2016. The Origins of Voluntary Compliance: Attitudes Towards Taxation in Urban Nigeria. British Journal of Political Science 46, 1: 215–38. Boulding, Carew. 2014. NGOs, Political Protest, and Civil Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boulding, Carew, and Nelson-Nuñez, Jami. 2014. Civil Society and Support for the Political System in Times of Crisis. Latin American Research Review 49, 1: 128–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chenoweth, Erica. 2010. Democratic Competition and Terrorist Activity. Journal of Politics 72, 1: 16–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chenoweth, Erica, and Stephan, Maria. 2011. Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Clandestina, Chaski. 2020. Report from the Funeral Procession from Senkata to La Paz. In Paley 2020. 38–40.Google Scholar
Cooper, Elizabeth. 2014. Students, Arson, and Protest Politics in Kenya: School Fires as Political Action. African Affairs 113, 453: 583–600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pabón, Copa, Vianca, Magali. 2020. Letter from El Alto: The Politics of Fear Is the Raw Material of Polarization. In Paley 2020. 54–57.Google Scholar
Corz, Carlos. 2015. El exalcalde de El Alto Édgar Patana es detenido y será sometido a audiencia cautelar. La Razón, July 25.Google Scholar
Crossley, Nick, Edwards, Gemma, Harries, Ellen, and Stevenson, Rachel. 2012. Covert Social Movement Networks and the Secrecy-Efficiency Trade Off: The Case of the UK Suffragettes (1906–1914). Social Networks 34, 4: 634–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuiza, Paulo. 2016. Incendio de la Alcaldía de El Alto deja 6 muertos y 18 heridos. La Razón, February 17. www.la-razon.com/lr-article/incendio-de-la-alcaldia-de-el-alto-deja-6muertos-y-18-heridosGoogle Scholar
Cunningham, Kathleen Gallagher. 2013a. Actor Fragmentation and Civil War Bargaining: How Internal Divisions Generate Civil Conflict. American Journal of Political Science 57, 3: 659–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cunningham, Kathleen Gallagher.. 2013b. Understanding Strategic Choice: The Determinants of Civil War and Nonviolent Campaign in Self-Determination Disputes. Journal of Peace Research 50, 3: 291–304. Cunningham, Kathleen Gallagher, Kristin M. Bakke, and Lee J. M. Seymour. 2012. Shirts Today, Skins Tomorrow: Dual Contests and the Effects of Fragmentation in Self-Determination Disputes. Journal of Conflict Resolution 56, 1: 67–93.Google Scholar
Dangl, Benjamin. 2007. The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia. Chico, CA: AK Press.Google Scholar
Davies, Emmerich, and Falleti, Tulia. 2017. Poor People’s Participation: Neoliberal Institutions or Left Turn? Comparative Political Studies 50, 12: 1699–1731.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derpic, Jorge. 2017. Legal Tactics and Strategies at the Prosecutor Offices of El Alto. In “Doctorcitos”: ensayos de sociología y antropología jurídica, ed. Hernán Pruden. La Paz: Centro de Investigaciones Sociales, Vicepresidencia del Estado Plurinacional.Google Scholar
Derpic, Jorge. 2019. La Paz/El Alto. In The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies, ed. Anthony M. Orum. Hoboken: Wiley. 1–4.Google Scholar
Derpic, Jorge, and Ayala Ugarte, Álex. 2013. Bolivia: los linchados de El Alto. Revista Anfibia/Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas, April 11.Google Scholar
Díaz-Cuellar, Vladimir. 2020. Requiem for the “Process of Change” in Bolivia. In Paley 2020. 57–74.Google Scholar
Driscoll, Jesse. 2012. Commitment Problems or Bidding Wars? Rebel Fragmentation as Peace Building. Journal of Conflict Resolution 56, 1: 118–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurd, El, Dana. 2019. Polarized and Demobilized: Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestine. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ellison, Susan. 2017. “You Have to Comply with Paper”: Debt, Documents, and Legal Consciousness in Bolivia. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 23, 3: 523–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellison, Susan. 2018. Domesticating Democracy: The Politics of Conflict Resolution in Bolivia. Durham: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairfield, Tasha, and Andrew E, Charman. 2017. Explicit Bayesian Analysis for Process Tracing: Guidelines, Opportunities, and Caveats. Political Analysis 25, 3: 363–80.Google Scholar
Farthing, Linda, and Kohl, Benjamin. 2014. Evo’s Bolivia: Continuity and Change. Austin: University of Texas Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fearon, James, and Laitin, David. 2003. Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War. American Political Science Review 97, 1: 75–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gingerich, Daniel. 2009. Corruption and Political Decay: Evidence from Bolivia. Quarterly Journal of Political Science 4, 1: 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstein, Daniel. 2016. Owners of the Sidewalk: Security and Survival in the Informal City. Durham: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grossman, Shelby. 2020. The Politics of Order in Informal Markets: Evidence from Lagos. World Politics 72, 1: 47–79.Google Scholar
Grossman, Shelby, Phillips, Jonathan, and Rosenzweig, Leah. 2018. Opportunistic Accountability: State-Society Bargaining over Shared Interests. Comparative Political Studies 51, 8: 979–1011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helmke, Gretchen, and Levitsky, Steven. 2004. Informal Institutions and Comparative Politics: A Research Agenda. Perspectives on Politics 2, 4: 725–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrera, Veronica. 2017. From Participatory Promises to Partisan Capture: Local Democratic Transitions and Mexican Water Politics. Comparative Politics 49, 4: 479–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland, Alisha C. 2017. Forbearance as Redistribution: The Politics of Informal Welfare in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Htun, Mala, and Pablo Ossa, Juan. 2013. Political Inclusion of Marginalized Groups: Indigenous Reservations and Gender Parity in Bolivia. Politics, Groups, and Identities 1, 1: 4–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hummel, Calla. 2016. Vendedores populares y políticas de representación de género. Umbrales 29: 331–59.Google Scholar
Hummel, Calla. 2017. Disobedient Markets: Street Vendors, Enforcement, and State Intervention in Collective Action. Comparative Political Studies 50, 11: 1524–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hummel, Calla. 2018. Bribery Cartels: Collusive Corruption in Bolivian Street Markets. Latin American Research Review 53, 2: 217–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hummel, Calla, V. Ximena Velasco Guachalla, Jami Nelson-Nuñez, and Carew Boulding. 2020. Bolivia: lecciones sobre los primeros seis meses de la pandemia de SARS-CoV-2. Temas Sociales 47: 98–129.Google Scholar
Kohl, Benjamin, and Farthing, Linda. 2006. Impasse in Bolivia: Neoliberal Hegemony and Popular Resistance. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Krook, Mona, and Retrepo Sanín, Juliana. 2020. The Cost of Doing Politics? Analyzing Violence and Harassment Against Female Politicians. Perspectives on Politics 18, 3: 740–55.Google Scholar
Kydd, Andrew, and Walter, Barbara. 2002. Sabotaging the Peace: The Politics of Extremist Violence. International Organization 56, 2: 263–96.Google Scholar
Kydd, Andrew, and Walter, Barbara. 2006. The Strategies of Terrorism. International Security 31, 1: 49–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazar, Sian. 2007. El Alto, Rebel City: Self and Citizenship in Andean Bolivia. Durham: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lehm Ardayo, Zulema, Rivera Cusicanqui, Silvia, and Hugo Ricaldi, Víctor. 1988. Los artesanos libertarios y la ética del trabajo. La Paz: Ediciones del THOA.Google Scholar
Luizaga, Dennis. 2016. Envían a prisión a Rocha y otros 4 implicados. La Razón, February 20.Google Scholar
Machado, Fabiana, Scartascini, Carlos, and Tommasi, Mariano. 2011. Political Institutions and Street Protests in Latin America. Journal of Conflict Resolution 55, 3: 340–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madrid, Raúl. 2012. The Rise of Ethnic Politics in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-versity Press.
CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahoney, James.2012. The Logic of Process Tracing Tests in the Social Sciences. Sociological Methods and Research 41, 4: 570–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maldonado, Arturo, Merolla, Jennifer, and Zechmeister, Elizabeth. 2019. Public Opinion, the Specter of Violence, and Democracy in Contemporary Peru. In Soifer and Vergara 2019. 250–83.Google Scholar
Migdal, Joel S. 2001. State in Society: Studying How States and Societies Transform and Constitute One Another. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgenroth, Thekla, Kirby, Teri A., Ryan, Michelle K., and Sudkämper, Antonia. 2020. The Who, When, and Why of the Glass Cliff Phenomenon: A Meta-analysis of Appointments to Precarious Leadership Positions. Psychological Bulletin 146, 9: 797–829.Google Scholar
Muñoz, Ismael, Paredes, Maritza, and Thorp, Rosemary. 2007. Group Inequalities and the Nature and Power of Collective Action: Case Studies from Peru. World Development 35, 11: 1929–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson-Nuñez, Jami, and Cartwright, Kate. 2018. Getting Along or Going Alone: Understanding Collaboration Between Local Governments and NGOs in Bolivia. Latin American Politics and Society 60, 1: 76–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Página, Siete. 2015. Dirigente Braulio Rocha a Sole: “Voy a ser tu pesadilla por el resto de tu vida.” April 2.Google Scholar
Página, Siete. 2016. Jurista recuerda que Rocha ya fue encarcelado por quema de edificio edil en 2003. February 18.Google Scholar
Página, Siete. 2018. Clan gremial del Lanza enfrenta 5 procesos penales por agresiones. October 29.Google Scholar
Paley, Dawn, ed. 2020. Toward Freedom’s Bolivia Reader: Voices on the Political and Social Crisis Following the October 2019 Elections in Bolivia. Toward Freedom. towardfree-dom.org
Google Scholar
Paredes, Maritza. 2016. The Glocalization of Mining Conflict: Cases from Peru. Extractive Industries and Society 3, 4: 1046–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perez, Marcos. 2018. Institutional Strengthening in a Receding Movement: The Trajectory of Piquetero Organizations Between 2003 and 2015. Latin American Research Review 53, 2: 287–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polletta, Francesca. 1998. It Was Like a Fever … Narrative and Identity in Social Protest. Social Problems 45, 2: 137–59.Google Scholar
Post, Alison, Bronsoler, Vivian, and Salman, Lana. 2017. Hybrid Regimes for Local Public Goods Provision: A Framework for Analysis. Perspectives on Politics 15, 4: 952–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritter, Emily Hencken. 2014. Policy Disputes, Political Survival, and the Onset and Severity of State Repression. Journal of Conflict Resolution 58, 1: 143–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritter, Emily Hencken, and Conrad, Courtney. 2016. Preventing and Responding to Dissent: The Observational Challenges of Explaining Strategic Repression. American Political Science Review 110, 1: 85–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rivas, Miguel. 2015a. Alcaldía retiene bs 5 millones por patentes de los gremiales. La Razón, April 23.Google Scholar
Rivas, Miguel. 2015b. Varios aspectos impiden que la alcaldía quemada sea patrimonio. La Razón, April 6.Google Scholar
Rivas, Miguel. 2015c. Chapetón: “Encontramos una alcaldía muy desorganizada.” La Razón, June 8.Google Scholar
Ryan, Michelle K., Alexander Haslam, S., and Kulich, Clara. 2010. Politics and the Glass Cliff: Evidence that Women Are Preferentially Selected to Contest Hard-to-Win Seats. Psychology of Women Quarterly 34, 1: 56–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sagarnaga, Rafael. 2020. Bolivia ¿un país adicto a los bloqueos? Los Tiempos, August 27.Google Scholar
Snow, David, and Moss, Dana. 2014. Protest on the Fly: Toward a Theory of Spontaneity in the Dynamics of Protest and Social Movements. American Sociological Review 79, 6: 1122–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soifer, Hillel, and Vergara, Alberto. 2019. Politics After Violence: Legacies of the Shining Path Conflict in Peru. Austin: University of Texas Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spedding, Allison. 2003. Quemar el archivo: un ensayo en contra de la historia. Temas Sociales 24: 367–402.Google Scholar
Stokes, Susan. 2005. Perverse Accountability: A Formal Model of Machine Politics with Evidence from Argentina. American Political Science Review 99, 3: 315–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan, Christopher. 2016. Undermining Resistance: Mobilization, Repression, and the Enforcement of Political Order. Journal of Conflict Resolution 60, 7: 1163–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Triguero, Tarqui, Felix. 2015. El Alto: la crisis de las organizaciones sociales. La Época, October 6.Google Scholar
Tassi, Nico, Hinojosa, Alfonso, and Carnaviri, Richard. 2015. La economía popular de Bolivia: tres miradas. La Paz: Fondo Editorial de la Vicepresidencia.Google Scholar
Tassi, Nico, Medeiros, Carmen, Antonio Carmona, and Giovana Ferrufino. 2013. “Hacer plata sin plata”: el desborde de los comerciantes populares en Bolivia. La Paz: PIEB.Google Scholar
Thachil, Tariq. 2020. Does Police Repression Spur Everyday Cooperation? Evidence from Urban India. Journal of Politics 82, 4: 1474–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilly, Charles. 1993. Contentious Repertoires in Great Britain, 1758–1834. Social Science History 17, 2: 253–80.Google Scholar
Velasco Guachalla, V. Ximena. 2020. Political Processes or Public Service Provision: Corruption and Protest Demands in Latin America. Ph.D. diss., University of Colorado.Google Scholar
Velasco Guachalla, V. Ximena, Calla Hummel, Jami Nelson-Nuñez, and Carew Boulding. 2021. Compounding Crises: Bolivia in 2020. Revista de Ciencia Politica 41, 2: 211–37.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, Steven. 2009. Riots. Annual Review of Political Science 12: 329–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolford, Scott. 2007. The Turnover Trap: New Leaders, Reputation, and International Conflict. American Journal of Political Science 51, 4: 772–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, Cathy, and Wolford, Scott. 2018. Leaders, States, and Reputations. Journal of Conflict Resolution 62, 10: 2087–2117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar