tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19618161333048032452011-12-31T00:24:57.588-04:00Observations, analysis, and experiences from my time in Bolivia researching politics.Andrew Crossonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019591121732297176noreply@blogger.comBlogger111100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961816133304803245.post-16301490129644115282008-08-11T15:18:00.002-04:002008-08-11T15:35:49.640-04:00

Finally, the VoteBolivia’s first-ever national recall referendum took place Sunday, and it was not quite the revolutionary event that two months of constitutional controversy, accusations of illegality, political shuffling, international concerns, regional violence, protests, hunger strikes, and coup fears indicated it would be. Tensions remained high through the weekend, but there were no more

Andrew Crossonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019591121732297176noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961816133304803245.post-10829087178118634062008-08-07T15:23:00.003-04:002008-08-07T15:56:41.440-04:00

Living in the Historical Present I am back in La Paz for my final week, after several weeks of being in and out of Bolivia. After Paraguay, I spent a week in Peru being a tourist. The city of Cuzco is beautiful, if crowded with tourists, and evokes colonial Spain as well as the lost majesty of the Incan empire centered there. In visits to the Sacred Valley of the Incas, and to the

Andrew Crossonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019591121732297176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961816133304803245.post-72267858048143641652008-07-28T15:49:00.004-04:002008-08-06T17:07:33.521-04:00

A Paraguayan PerspectiveI have been on vacation from my research for the past two weeks, so this entry consists mostly of cultural commentary and some updates on political developments in Bolivia. I am currently in transit to Peru from Asuncion, Paraguay, where I have been resting up and visiting a friend. Asuncion is the capital city, with a proud post-colonial history and a beautiful location

Andrew Crossonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019591121732297176noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961816133304803245.post-23029350866012092492008-07-22T15:06:00.005-04:002008-08-06T16:21:45.093-04:00

The character of Santa Cruz de la SierraSanta Cruz is a different version of Bolivia than the one I had gotten to know in La Paz and, to a lesser extent, in Sucre. The largest city in the country is the capital of its largest department, which shares the same name. I had not known what to expect from the city upon my arrival. In many ways, it is a world away from La Paz and the mountainous West

Andrew Crossonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019591121732297176noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961816133304803245.post-72289997816976933092008-07-13T17:12:00.001-04:002008-07-13T17:33:12.115-04:00

After two eye-opening weeks in La Paz, I moved on to the city of Sucre for my third week. Sucre is the constitutional capital of the republic of Bolivia, was the source of the first liberation movement in South America, and remains the symbolic heart of the country. The contrast with La Paz is dramatic. Where La Paz is intense in every way, bustling and sprawling and crowded, Sucre has an energy

Andrew Crossonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019591121732297176noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961816133304803245.post-52919163063328385282008-07-06T16:29:00.004-04:002008-07-06T16:48:43.199-04:00

After two entries dealing with my personal experiences with and descriptions of things here in La Paz, it is time for an update on my study of politics. The theme of this post is polarization: in education, in the press, in geography, in politics, and in society. Things are never as simple as I think at first, and every issue and position is layered. As I noted earlier, the issues that have

Andrew Crossonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019591121732297176noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961816133304803245.post-68574209108924897392008-07-01T12:20:00.001-04:002008-07-06T16:28:51.812-04:00

I have been in La Paz now for more than a week, and have had far more than a week´s worth of challenges and experiences. I have a handle on this city, now, a least compared with how dizzying life here was at first. I know the streets, and can find my way around without a map. I have also gotten used to the pace of the city, its people and traffic and commerce. Walking the streets here is not only

Andrew Crossonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019591121732297176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961816133304803245.post-88781021087410389082008-06-29T13:44:00.003-04:002008-07-06T16:09:25.676-04:00

La Paz has made impressions on me in waves since my arrival. The first, from the air, was the dramatic geography of the city. Bolivia’s capital is tucked into a canyon at about 15,000 feet of altitude. La Paz is the third largest city in the country, with just under a million people. Santa Cruz, in the eastern province (where I will visit later), is the largest with over a million. Second largest

Andrew Crossonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019591121732297176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961816133304803245.post-23760482941123596072008-06-26T16:35:00.002-04:002008-07-06T15:40:35.746-04:00

With the aforementioned delay of a constitutional referendum, the political battle here in Bolivia has recently moved to other fronts. At the center of the struggle, however, are the same issues that make the new constitution so important. The proposed policies of land redistribution and hydrocarbon taxation, which are both recognized by independent analysts as the essential first steps necessary

Andrew Crossonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019591121732297176noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961816133304803245.post-45633213412853397842008-06-25T14:17:00.001-04:002008-07-06T15:55:16.401-04:00

Following the broader historical context I tried to supply in the first entry, I will now outline the political conflict that has developed since Evo´s election. As I mentioned, the two major platform points of Evo´s agenda were nationalization of the hydrocarbon (oil and gas) industry and a re-writing of the Bolivian Constitution. While the economic impact of the nationalization program is

Andrew Crossonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019591121732297176noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961816133304803245.post-59182269752583210552008-06-24T17:37:00.001-04:002008-07-06T15:47:03.024-04:00

During my 7 weeks in Bolivia, I hope to construct a narrative of culture, politics, and society as I experience it through my observations and interactions with the Bolivian people. The experience will be a rich one for me, I am sure, but my primary purpose is to provide a first-hand perspective on what is commonly termed “Bolivia’s political crisis.” The occasional stories carried by the

Andrew Crossonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17019591121732297176noreply@blogger.com0