Buen Vivir (Good Conviviality): Political and Social Reform in Latin America from 2000 to 2010 (The Cases of Bolivia and Ecuador)

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the evolution of the concept buen vivir since its appearance in the discourse of development in early 2000s. As an idea it originated first from the cosmology of the indigenous people of the Andes region, it is an everyday concept that depicts the manner in which indigenous peoples live and understand the world. Some of the values of buen vivir include coexistence, community, plurality, reciprocity, and equilibrium. It is these same values and notions that have pushed and inspired different actors to speak out against the national economic policies and the neoliberal development strategy implemented in the region.

In two particular cases, buen vivir evolved into a concrete political ideology that has become the foundation of the constitutions and the national development plan policies for both Bolivia and Ecuador. Taking these two countries as the prototype models of the implementation of buen vivir, the research aims at evaluating the historical process in which buen vivir has been placed as political and developmental stage in Latin America. One of the major criticisms of this concept by past scholars has been the fact that buen vivir is idealized and a concept that cannot be applied to modern times. The fact that two countries, Bolivia and Ecuador have implemented this concept in their national public policies proves otherwise. Therefore, by understanding the process of establishment and change, this study tries to understand the rationale and the nature of the concept in terms of the philosophy and the history of indigenous communities in Latin America. In order to accomplish this, an analysis of the etymological roots of the word buen vivir and its Quechuan and Aymaran origins is first done.

The research shows how Bolivia and Ecuador represent two different methods by which buen vivir has been implement by the respective national governments. Although at first hand it seems that Ecuador and Bolivia have taken similar steps and borrowed from each other in order to reform the constitution and the national plans, the fact is that buen vivir as Eduardo Gudynas (2011) defines it, is a concept under construction, characterized by its plurality. This means that at a closer look, there exist several differences in how it is concretized in the constitutions and development models of Bolivia and Ecuador. The main purpose is to understand how and why this concept was able to position itself in the core foundation of the political ideology and development of Bolivia and Ecuador. Furthermore, it seeks to analyze in what different ways buen vivir is creating political and social changes in Bolivia and Ecuador. Buen vivir has a great influence on different local communities, not because it is a concept that is prescribed or taught, but because it is naturally embedded it the traditions and cosmovision of the local Andean people. Through the implementation in political, social, and economic sectors in Bolivia and Ecuador, other regions in Latin America have felt the influence and singularity of the concept, and are applying it in their own communities and societies. This paper highlights the implications and innovations buen vivir could bring for the entire Latin American region. Taking this notion into account, the final part of the thesis focuses on the implications of buen vivirs future both in the academic field as well as in practice through different policies and laws. Using the core principle of buen vivir, the proposition to change the approach towards development, this thesis focuses on the characteristics of buen vivir as a complementary tool, a hybrid alternate for social and political reform. It is a comparative assessment of its positioning and the changes it has brought to Bolivia and Ecuador.