Under President Evo Morales' government, Bolivia has transformed itself---despite its grinding poverty, its relatively frail political institutions and a legacy of ethnic exclusion that dates all the way back to the colonial period--into the most egalitarian, participatory and inclusionary democratic regime in Latin America and, arguably, in the western hemisphere. The aim of this Conversatorio is to explore how this was accomplished, without ignoring some of the obstacles that continue to undermine the spread of civic democracy in Bolivia.
Instead of an academic conference in which each speaker presents a formal paper and responds to a discussant, all three participants have agreed to engage each other and all the members of the audience in a lively and critical discussion.
With the participation of: Pablo Stefanoni, Editor of Le Monde Diplomatique, La Paz, Ex-Adviser to President Evo Morales; Javier Sanjinés, Professor in the Department of Romance Languages, University of Michigan; and Sinclair Thomson, Associate Professor of History, NYU.
New York City, NY; NYC