žižek archive
archive / stories / Bolivia and Álvaro García Linera

Bolivia and Álvaro García Linera

example · retold in 9 talks

García Linera told Žižek that organizing 'the multitude' via tribal connections in Bolivia resulted in corruption and tribal bosses seeking enrichment, proving that 'zero level of politicization' without state alienation is an illusion.

2020: 2 talks 2021: 4 talks 2023: 1 talk 2024: 1 talk 2025: 1 talk
≤2000talks it is told in, per year2026

As told 10

“We discovered that this was just corruption... A tribal boss came from province to La Paz and he was interested either in his own enrichment.”
“He defined itself as a socialist technocrat. Wonderful definition.”
“in Bolivia they did not screw it up. The real purchase power of ordinary worker in the... years of Morales' first reign, more than redoubled.”

What it carries

one story, many jobs: the ideas this anecdote is deployed to argue, one tally mark per use (an idea page shows the same relation from the other end, as its shelf of stories)

Its cast and sources

populated by
alongside works

Every retelling 10

García Linera told Žižek that organizing 'the multitude' via tribal connections in Bolivia resulted in corruption and tribal bosses seeking enrichment, proving that 'zero level of politicization' without state alienation is an illusion., illustrating geopolitics-war,dark Deleuze
After a right-wing coup in Bolivia, Evo Morales's third man Luis Arce, who defined himself as a 'socialist technocrat' and pointed to the country's record under socialist governance, won back power through elections, which Žižek presents as proof that radical politics can succeed., illustrating socialist technocrat,left electoral strategy,violence and democratic resistance
Bolivia under Morales and García Linera is Žižek's primary contemporary example of radical left success: real purchasing power of ordinary workers more than doubled, while big capital was controlled but made to work for the state rather than eliminated., illustrating principled pragmatic stance,communist horizon,voluntarism
The Moralesista government raised living standards for ordinary Bolivians while maintaining a careful balance of taxation and compromise that avoided total boycott by the rich, a model of moderate communist governance. The model unraveled over lithium resource politics, splitting Morales from Lucho Arce., illustrating moderately conservative communist,the day after,communism in practice
Žižek holds Bolivia up as the clearest contemporary proof that a revolutionary government can maintain principled power while giving economic opponents a limited, rule-bound space rather than destroying them., illustrating open situation,class struggle
10:10 Oxford Political Review2020-11-05 · 56:19
Žižek cites Bolivia under Lucho Arce as proof that a radical left in power can deliver everyday improvements without becoming Venezuela or Cuba, a 'thorn in the eyes of the establishment.', illustrating technocratic socialism,left governance,disintegration of liberal center