Proclaiming Revolution: Bolivia in Comparative Perspective

by Merilee S. Grindle (Editor), James Dunkerley

The fiftieth anniversary of the 1952 Revolution in Bolivia offered an opportunity to explore contrasting visions about change in this often overlooked country from a comparative perspective. Blending the approaches of history and the social sciences, the chapters in this volume examine both implicitly and explicitly the extent to which the process opened by the uprising of April 1952 is comparable to the great radical transformations that occurred elsewhere during the twentieth century. The question of historical memory, the origins of the revolution in the political economy and culture of the towns, mines and countryside, and the extent to which the political process after 1952 shaped new interpretations of the country's place in the world are all analysed by leading scholars from Bolivia, the USA and the UK. Full and critical attention is given to the consequences of the revolution over fifty years, with assessments of the parties, structures and policies shaping economic, political and social conditions at the start of the twenty-first century.

448 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2003

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Alan knight chapter comparing the causes, circumstances, and results of the Mexican revolution and the Bolivian revolution--a must read for fans of knights two volume work on the Mexican revolution. The gotkowitz chapter and the dunkerly and Sinclair thomson chapters are also thoughtful works that contribute a lot to Bolivian historiography on the 1952 revolution with thomson doing a really interesting analysis of how the tupac katari uprising has been viewed by historians at different moments in bolivian history. In this chapter he asks why the 1952 revolution, counterintuitively, has not had the same rhetorical appeal for academics and politicians even though one would think that looking back at the goals of 1952 that this date had a lot more in common with early 21st century activism than say 1899 would have.