1 On the Perils and Potentialities of Revolution Conflict and Collective Action in Contemporary Bolivia by Lorenza Belinda Fontana Bolivia is living a moment of transition that has raised expectations of a profound trans- formation of the state–civil-society relationship and of conflict dynamics. The Movimiento al Socialismo has promoted the direct participation of previously excluded sectors in public affairs and the integration of the traditional practices of indigenous groups into formal institutional structures. The heterogeneity of its ruling coalition has posed serious chal- lenges with regard to the management of potential tensions among diverse social sectors. A key role in the promotion of a hegemonic project is played by discourse. Conflict is struc- tured in terms of a strong, self-reinforcing set of narratives about crucial aspects of social life, among them the identification of external enemies and the generation of new merging categories that invent new collective subjects. This rhetorical strategy has not, however, been able to eliminate the oppositional politics of Bolivian social movements. Bolivia vive un momento de transición que ha aumentado las expectativas de una profunda transformación de la relación Estado–sociedad-civil y de la dinámica del con- flicto. El Movimiento al Socialismo ha promovido la participación directa de sectores antes excluidos de los asuntos públicos, así como la integración de prácticas tradicionales de grupos indígenas en las estructuras institucionales formales. La heterogeneidad de su coalición gobernante plantea desafíos serios con respecto al manejo de tensiones potencia- les entre diversos sectores sociales. Un papel clave en la promoción de un proyecto hegemónico lo juega el discurso. El conflicto se estructura por medio de fuertes narrativas auto-reforzadas acerca de aspectos cruciales de la vida social, entre ellas la identificación de los enemigos externos y la generación de nuevas categorías emergentes que inventan nuevos sujetos colectivos. Esta estrategia retórica, sin embargo, no ha podido eliminar la política opositora de los movimientos sociales bolivianos. Keywords: Bolivia, Evismo, Social conflict, Democracy, Narratives Since the impressive electoral victory of the Aymara coca growers’ union leader Evo Morales in 2005, Bolivia has been undergoing a process of change. This process and the rise of the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement toward Lorenza Belinda Fontana is Post-doctoral Research Assistant at the Sheffield Institute for International Development, University of Sheffield (UK) and an associated member of the Centre d'analyse et d'intervention sociologiques (CADIS), École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) (France). She spent more than two years in Bolivia, where she carried out extensive fieldwork on land conflicts among social movements, with a focus on the analysis of collective narratives and identities. She thanks Fernando Calderón and Alejandro Nató for their valuable contributions to the content of this article, Nathaniel Freiburger, Angelo Miramonti, and Fernando Molina for their helpful comments during the writing process, and the Fundación UNIR Bolivia for providing access to useful data sets. She also thanks Steve Ellner for the interest he has demonstrated in her research and academic work and the Latin American Perspectives reviewers for their comments. LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue XXX, Vol. XX No. X, Month XXXX xx-xx DOI: 10.1177/0094582X13476003 © 2013 Latin American Perspectives at University of Sheffield on April 8, 2013 lap.sagepub.com Downloaded from