Can states be decolonized? Indigenous peoples and radical constitutional reform in Bolivia

Abstract

This article critically examines the project of transformative constitutionalism implemented by the Movement for Socialism (MAS) government which aims to decolonize Bolivian society through constructing a ‘plurinational’ state. Based on ethnography of the political institutions of a rural indigenous community and their interaction with this new state, it argues that programs of constitutional reform are limited in their capacity to address colonial legacies. This is due to the incompatibility of the polyvalent character of postcolonial indigenous societies with the disposition of states and legal systems to bureaucratically re-order and simplify social life, even when ostensibly providing rights and recognitions to marginalized groups.