Restructuring Citizenship in Bolivia: El Plan de Todos

Benjamin Kohl

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2003, vol. 27, issue 2, 337-351

Abstract: Current international development policies promote both free markets and democratic states through privatization and decentralization programs. Building on T.H. Marshall's concept of citizenship, this article examines how these programs have affected the rights associated with citizenship in Bolivia since 1993 when the administration of President Gonzalo Sänchez de Lozada introduced a broad set of economic and political reforms. His administration sold state firms that had accounted for 50% of government revenues at the same time as it adopted a new constitution that recognized the multicultural and pluri‐ethnic nature of Bolivian society. His administration also began decentralization programs in government, health and education that transferred 20% of national revenues, as well as the responsibility for providing services, to municipal governments. I show how current development practice has strengthened a neoliberal citizenship regime in which civil rights associated with ownership of private property, and political rights associated with formal democracy and representation, have been promoted at the expense of social rights associated with access to health, education and welfare. Actuellement, les politiques de développement internationales favorisent à la fois les marchés libres et les états démocratiques par des programmes de privatisation et décentralisation. A partir du concept de citoyenneté de T.H. Marshall, l'article examine comment ces programmes ont affecté les droits liés à la citoyenneté en Bolivie depuis 1993, date à laquelle le gouvernement du Président Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada a lancé un vaste train de réformes économiques et politiques. Il a vendu des entreprises publiques qui avaient représenté 50% des recettes de l'Etat, tout en adoptant une nouvelle constitution reconnaissant la nature multiculturelle et pluri‐ethnique de la société bolivienne. De plus, il a entamé des programmes de décentralisation au niveau du gouvernement, de la santé et de l'éducation, cédant aux autorités municipales 20% des revenus nationaux et la responsabilité de la fourniture de services. Ainsi, le développement actuel a renforcé un régime de citoyenneté néo‐libéral où les droits civils relatifs à la propriété privée, et les droits politiques relatifs à la représentation et la démocratie officielles, ont été avantagés au détriment des droits sociaux liés à l'accä%s à la santé l'éducation et l'aide sociale.

Date: 2003
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