%0 Journal Article
%T Revolution from Below: Cleavage Displacement and the Collapse of Elite Politics in Bolivia
%A Jean-Paul Faguet
%J Politics & Society
%@ 1552-7514
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0032329219845944
%X For fifty years, Bolivia¡¯s political party system was a surprisingly robust component of an otherwise fragile democracy, withstanding coups, hyperinflation, guerrilla insurgencies, and economic chaos. Why did it suddenly collapse around 2002? This article offers a theoretical lens combining cleavage theory with Schattschneider¡¯s concept of competitive dimensions for an empirical analysis of the structural and ideological characteristics of Bolivia¡¯s party system from 1952 to 2010. Politics shifted from a conventional left-right axis of competition, unsuited to Bolivian society, to an ethnic/rural¨Ccosmopolitan/urban axis closely aligned with its major social cleavage. That shift fatally undermined elite parties and facilitated the rise of structurally and ideologically distinct organizations, as well as a new indigenous political class, that transformed the country¡¯s politics. Decentralization and political liberalization were the triggers that politicized Bolivia¡¯s latent cleavage, sparking revolution from below. The article suggests a folk theorem of identitarian cleavage and outlines a mechanism linking deep social cleavage to sudden political change
%K cleavage theory
%K political parties
%K elite politics
%K decentralization
%K Latin America
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0032329219845944