Document Type
Honors Project
Abstract
I approach Bolivian coca policy under Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous President, as a site to examine the broader issue of decolonization. My paper argues that the new General Law of Coca, passed in March 2017, is part of a larger systemic pattern of violence towards historically disenfranchised communities in Bolivia, despite Morales’ indigenous Aymara identity and pro-coca activism. Drawing on interviews I conducted and a postcolonial theoretical framework, I analyze how although Morales has rhetorically advocated for indigenous communities and decolonizing Bolivia, colonial legacies supplanted in the subjectivity of Bolivians and institutions of its government have persisted. I suggest that it is not possible for any postcolonial state to decolonize if it embraces the forces of global capitalism — the same forces that drove the violence of colonialism. I use international relations theory and social movement theory to aid in the imagining of a path towards decolonization.
Recommended Citation
Poulos, Margaret A., "Coca, Capitalism and Decolonization: State Violence in Bolivia through Coca Policy" (2018). Political Science Honors Projects. 78.
https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/poli_honors/78
Included in
International Relations Commons, Latin American Languages and Societies Commons, Other Political Science Commons, Political Theory Commons, Public Policy Commons, Social Welfare Commons
© Copyright is owned by author of this document
