Authors: Goldstein, Daniel M.; Achá, With Gloria; Hinojosa, Eric; Roncken, Theo

Source: Social Analysis, Volume 51, Number 2, Summer 2007 , pp. 43-63(21)

Abstract:

Vigilante violence has become a common practice of creating 'security' in the marginal barrios that surround the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Surprisingly, this violence and the human rights violations it entails are appearing simultaneously with the expansion of civil society in Bolivia. This apparent contradiction, it is argued here, suggests that analysts must expand their definition of 'civil society' to include violent social groups and actors as well as peaceful ones. This article suggests that a fuller understanding of the nature of civil society in Bolivia and other Latin American countries requires us to broaden our understanding of what civil society includes, and so recognize that some acts originating in civil society may restrict rather than deepen and expand individual rights in neo-liberal democracies.

Keywords: BOLIVIA; CIVIL SOCIETY; DEMOCRACY; HUMAN RIGHTS; MANO DURA; SECURITY; SOCIAL MOVEMENTS; VIOLENCE

DOI: 10.3167/sa.2007.510203

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