A Revolution in Fragments: Traversing Scales of Justice, Ideology, and Practice in Bolivia.

• Author: Sierra, Luis M.

Goodale, Mark. A Revolution in Fragments: Traversing Scales of Justice, Ideology, and Practice in Bolivia. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019.

Evo Morales, Bolivia's first self-identifying indigenous president, brought forth what has been described as a process of change, a revolution--or less generously as the continuation of neoliberalism with a veneer of nationalism and autonomy--for Bolivia's indigenous nations. Mark Goodale's A Revolution in Fragments: Traversing Scales of Justice, Ideology, and Practice in Bolivia assesses that process from varied sources and perspectives. It is an ethnography and--this reviewer would argue--a history of the present in Bolivia from 2006-2015. A Revolution in Fragments analyzes the meaning and role of law and ideology in the development of the pluri-national Bolivian state. Goodale explores how the law is integral to making identities real, how the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) oversaw the process of change, and how it dealt with challenges to its rule and its vision of the nation and state. A turning point for the analysis is the 2008 constitution: Goodale argues that the constitution's passage signaled a new legal and political order, as it became the ideological foundation of the pluri-national state. Each chapter of A Revolution in Fragments deploys varied theoretical scaffolding in order to tune the reader into the tenor of the MAS revolution from the perspective of oppositional actors, MAS activists, MAS politicians, government bureaucrats, and radical elements of the traditional Left. At its core, A Revolution in Fragments demonstrates how the law was used to legitimate the MAS's political and social project and to silence or marginalize opposition figures and movements. In this case, the reader is shown how the MAS dealt with opposition to the process of change. Goodale's analysis spans geographic as well as ideological distances, challenging scholars to think through the various texts and subtexts brought forth in the MAS's state- and nation-building process. Morales's presidency has birthed a body of critical scholarship on Bolivia's present, and A Revolution in Fragments is undoubtedly part of this scholarship. However, the work is also sensitive to Bolivia's complex internal history and as a result contextualizes Morales within and beyond Bolivia.

A Revolution in Fragments investigates how opposition actors reacted to Morales's election and the changes the MAS revolution brought forth...