How Evo Morales’s Background as A Poor Farmer Differed from The Background of Other Western Leaders
Evo Morales’s background as a poor farmer differs substantially from the backgrounds of most Western leaders. His family was peasant farmers and from an early age, he took part in planting and harvesting crops such as coca along with guarding their herd of llamas and sheep. As a child, Morale underwent basic elementary education at Orinoca’s preparatory school. In addition, he traveled to Arani province in Cochabamba on a regular basis with his father and their llamas, a voyage that took up to two weeks to exchange salt and potatoes for maize and coca. On the other hand, western leaders such as Jorge Quiroga have been highly privileged individuals with the money, networking, and education to facilitate their political campaigns.
Unlike many western leaders who had well-paying jobs with good income for survival, Evo Morale and the family had to depend on farming to earn a living. Furthermore, as a poor farmer and an indigenous person, his campaigns focused more on liberating the poor from poverty, fighting corruption, and ensuring equal rights when it came to resources. Morales as a leader had to find his way up the political ladder by himself, unlike most western leaders who inherited their leadership positions.
Evo Morales’s Philosophy of Political Leadership and Whether He Was Successful
Evo Morales’s philosophy of political leadership was a nationalistic, anti-imperialistic, and anti-neoliberalist approach to governance. His government was focused on implementing lefties programs and against the influence of the US and global companies. He was a major supporter of initiatives to alter Bolivia’s constitution to strengthen indigenous peoples’ rights, cement his nationalization and agrarian reform programs, and allow a president to serve two terms in a row.
After taking power, Evo Morales immediately began the institutionalization of many of the social movement successes earned on the street. In his first year in power, Evo Morales fulfilled and succeeded in several of his political pledges, such as nationalizing oil, calling the constitutional assembly, and initiating agrarian reforms. Bolivia was the poorest country in South America at the time of his election (Farthing, 2019). Morales’ administration did not make substantial changes to Bolivia’s economic structure, and its National Development Plan (PDN) for 2006–10 was broadly consistent with the country’s prior liberal economic model. Bolivia’s economy was heavily built on the production of natural resources, with the country holding the second greatest reserves of natural gas in South America.
As he had promised throughout his election campaigns, Morale signed the Supreme law 2870, increasing governmental control over the hydrocarbon business. Previously, corporations paid 18 percent of their profits to the state however, Evo Morales symbolically reversed this, so that 82 percent of profits went to the state and eighteen percent to the companies (Gautreau & Bruslé, 2019). The issue brought about a lot of controversies as the oil firms threatened to take the matter to international tribunals or to discontinue operations in Bolivia but eventually agreed to settle. As a result, Bolivia’s hydrocarbon extraction revenue jumped from nearly $175 million in 2002 to approximately $1.5 billion by 2006 (Gautreau & Bruslé, 2019). Morales and his administration referred to it as nationalization, despite the fact that it was not officially a form of nationalization which angered Bolivia’s left.
Furthermore, Evo Morales oversaw the adoption of a new constitution that gives the country’s indigenous majority more authority and reverses half a century of colonization, discrimination, and humiliation. An election to create a Constitutional Assembly was held in July 2006, with the largest voter participation in the country’s history (Gautreau, 2019). The Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) won 137 of the 255 seats in the Assembly, which was formed in August (Gautreau, 2019). The Assembly was Bolivia’s first elected parliamentary assembly, with a significant Campesino and indigenous presence. The Assembly ratified a new constitution in November, transforming the Republic of Bolivia into the Plurinational State of Bolivia, which is described as a “plurinational communal and the social United States” (Moore, 2018). Bolivian independence over natural resources was emphasized in the constitution which also created a separation of religion and state, barred foreign military bases in the country, set a two-term limit for the presidency, and granted limited regional autonomy.
References
Farthing, L. (2019). An opportunity squandered? Elites, social movements, and the government of Evo Morales. Latin American Perspectives, 46(1), 212-229. Web.
Gautreau, P., & Bruslé, L. P. (2019). Forest management in Bolivia under Evo Morales: The challenges of post-neoliberalism. Political Geography, 68, 110-121. Web.
Moore, M. (2018). Rethinking Community from Peru. The Political Philosophy of Jose Maria Arguedas. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 95(5), 575-577. Web.