The political economy of post-neoliberalism in Bolivia: Policies, elites, and the MAS government

With the ebbing of the pink tide, the MAS government in Bolivia remains as one of the most successful leftist governments that had been elected throughout Latin America since the late 1990s. In order to better understand this surprising success story, this paper analyses the political economy of the post-neoliberal model that has taken shape under MAS rule. More specifically, it looks at the interaction between the strategic orientation and the specific features of economic policy-making in Bolivia, on the one hand, and the evolving relationship of the MAS government with the country’s economic elites, on the other. The paper argues that Bolivia’s specific version of post-neoliberalism has facilitated increasingly cooperative relations between the government and economic elites, while the latter have themselves contributed to the consolidation of the former. At the same time, the analysis of the political economy of Bolivian post-neoliberalism also reveals its inherent fragility.  Resumen: La economia politica del postneoliberalismo boliviano: Politica, elites y el gobierno MAS Con el flujo de la marea rosa, el gobierno del MAS en Bolivia sigue siendo uno de los gobiernos izquierdistas elegidos mas exitosos de toda America Latina desde finales de los anos noventa. Para comprender mejor esta sorprendente historia de exito, este articulo analiza la economia politica del modelo post-neoliberal que ha tomado forma bajo el gobierno del MAS. Mas especificamente, analiza la interaccion entre la orientacion estrategica y las caracteristicas especificas de la formulacion de politicas economicas en Bolivia, por un lado, y la relacion en evolucion del gobierno del MAS con las elites economicas del pais, por otro. Se argumenta que la version especifica del post-neoliberalismo de Bolivia ha facilitado relaciones cada vez mas cooperativas entre el gobierno y las elites economicas, quienes han contribuido a la consolidacion de las primeras. Al mismo tiempo, el analisis de la economia politica del posneoliberalismo boliviano tambien revela su fragilidad inherente.