Decolonizing the state

Matthew Doyle is a Lecturer in Social Anthropology at University College London

• Introduction: Indigenous political conflict in the new BoliviaI Decolonizing the state in Bolivia 1 Decolonization, states and legibility2 Indigenous politics and the Bolivian stateII Indigenous local politics and the plurinational state3 Territory and identity: the National Agrarian Reform (INRA) Law and the legal status of land4 The meaning of living well: the Popular Participation (LPP) Law and the local politics of development5 Indigenous autonomy: the Autonomies and Decentralization (LMAD) Law and local governance6 Legal pluralism and Indigenous justice: the Jurisdictional Demarcation Law and the 2009 Bolivian constitutionConclusion: The new Bolivia, decolonization and state reformReferencesIndex

'Doyle’s compelling ethnography of Indigenous self-governance institutions in highland Bolivia demonstrates the limitations inherent in state-led decolonization projects. He shows how, despite the MAS government’s promises to devolve power to local communities, its reforms ultimately destabilized the very communities they sought to empower. Doyle makes a forceful contribution to the literature on colonialism and the state, arguing that meaningful decolonization requires recognizing and amplifying existing forms of self-governance rather than reducing them to bureaucratically legible forms.'Nancy Postero, Professor of Anthropology at UC San Diego and author of Now we are Citizens and The Indigenous State