Populism and Its Authoritarian Tendencies: The Politics of Division in Bolivia

Evo Morales rose to power on the shoulders of Bolivia’s most powerful social movements, ostracizing the neoliberal elite with a progressive-left populist discourse that swept through Latin America. After nearly 14 years in power, Morales’s caudillo-style leadership shifted toward authoritarianism and a politics of division that ultimately led to his ouster as president. While many have been quick to adopt the narrative of a coup d’état, this perspective plays directly into the oversimplified binary politics used by the Morales administration, overlooking the complexity and fluidity of social forces and the changing state-society dynamics over time. Evo Morales suffered a crisis of legitimacy that was years in the making. His authoritarian tendencies, alliances with classes of capital, and reliance on the extractive economy ultimately led to his downfall as he lost support from his social bases and was unwilling to give up state power. The electoral scandal in October 2019 and the subsequent departure of Evo Morales into political exile were only the tip of the iceberg. Evo Morales accedió al poder gracias a los movimientos sociales más poderosos de Bolivia, en conflicto con la élite neoliberal y utilizando un discurso populista de izquierda progresista que se extendió por América Latina. Después de casi 14 años en el poder, el liderazgo caudillista de Morales viró hacia el autoritarismo y una política divisoria que finalmente llevó a su destitución como presidente. Si bien muchos se han apresurado a adoptar la narrativa de un golpe de Estado, esta perspectiva se enfila directamente con la política binaria simplista utilizada por la administración misma de Morales, pasando por alto la complejidad y fluidez de las fuerzas sociales, así como la dinámica cambiante estado-sociedad a través del tiempo. Morales sufrió una crisis de legitimidad que se gestó durante años. Sus tendencias autoritarias, sus alianzas con las clases capitalistas y su dependencia de la economía extractiva finalmente llevaron a su caída: perdió el apoyo de sus bases sociales sin estar dispuesto a renunciar al poder estatal. El escándalo electoral de octubre de 2019 y su posterior exilio político fueron tan solo la punta del iceberg.

Democratic Law

This chapter argues for a communicative conception of democracy and democratic law by appealing to a duty of respect that we owe to our fellow citizens. To nurture and sustain the social bases of self-respect, citizens must convey to each other their convictions of mutual equality, their commitments to respect essential human needs and moral rights, and their mutual commitment to cooperate and provide every member with a stable place of belonging. Fulfilling these duties of communication requires a public commitment authored by all of us, undertaken through articulate action. Law has qualities of substantive expression that mere discursive messages lack. Law is public and takes the form of an ongoing, articulate commitment. But for law to convey the message that citizens must convey, each of us must be able to contribute to its formation. Hence, for law to play this special function, it must be democratically forged and sustained.

Populism, localism and democratic citizenship

This article articulates and explores a localist conception of citizenship that stands in contrast to more liberal, neoliberal and cosmopolitan conceptions. A localist orientation, and some real sympathy, is evident in specifically ethnographic accounts of voters who supported Trump, Brexit and populism more broadly, including such accounts by Arlie Hochschild, Robert Wuthnow, Kathy Cramer and Justin Gest. This localist orientation echoes the Antifederalist opponents of the American Constitution, Jacksonian Democrats, Tocqueville’s account of American democracy and the American populists. I consider both the virtues and vices of localism. The possible benefits include local practices of nested reciprocity, special obligations, specifically local ‘social bases of selfrespect’ – in the terminology of John Rawls – and feelings of belonging and home (what the Germans call Heimat). However, localism also has its downsides: its resources can empower prejudice and exclusion. I end with a reflection on localism and exclusion in Lorraine Hasberry’s A Raisin in the Sun.

‘A new power structure will be built from the grassroots’: The challenge of radical democracy in Allende’s Chile

Chilean history in the twentieth century poses a number of unresolved questions about the limits of liberal capitalist democracy to effectively include the interests of non-elite sectors. The origins of the contemporary crisis for Chile’s political elites – as well as of neoliberalism more broadly – can be found in the chasm between political parties and their social bases. The parallels faced by Chilean activists and protestors in 2019 invite a closer look at the possibilities for and restraints on popular sector participation during Chile’s experiment with democratic socialism. As an act of radical democracy, the 1972 People’s Assembly in Concepción represented a vital attempt to create new mechanisms for citizen participation within an unfolding revolutionary process. Today, as Chileans grapple with how to construct an alternative to neoliberal democracy, past historical experiments in radical democracy and building grassroots movements can offer important lessons for the present.

The Relationship between Biopsychic and Social Foundations Fear of Death

The study is aimed at identifying and analyzing the features of the relationship between biopsychic and social bases of the fear of death. Research objectives: to consider the content of biopsychic mechanisms of the fear of death; to identify the features of the functioning of biopsychic processes as the basis for the fear of death; using the example of the COVID-19 pandemic to analyze the impact of social conditions on the occurrence of fear of death; consider the interaction and interaction of biopsychic and social bases of fear of death; consider possible ways to minimize the fear of death at the individual level and at the level of social groups. Research results. The authors, relying on the theory of interaction of the social with the natural, reveal that the bases of the fear of death are the peculiarities of the functioning of the human psyche, the action of the instinct of self-preservation, emotional and psychophysiological reactions, which are included in the area of functioning of the internal natural. It is noted that the biopsychological foundations of fear are manifested at the level of the individual, personal dimension and represent a natural (natural) form of fear of death, filled with social content. Arising under the influence of external threats, including of a social nature, the fear of death activates the psychophysiological reactions of the human body, that is, the process of social influence on the internal natural is taking place, bringing it to a functional state. At the same time, the inner natural, contributing to the appearance and manifestation of the fear of death, makes a person change social reality, build a new value-semantic hierarchy of life. This reveals the relationship between biopsychic and social foundations of the fear of death. Social upheavals, epidemics, wars, crises, poverty are considered by the authors as the dominant social foundations of the fear of death. It has been established that the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic are extreme conditions for human existence, in which the fear of death is characterized by increased intensity. The reactions of individuals and social groups to the experience of fear of death represent the search for a way to get rid of the fear of death, which constitutes a system of practices for ensuring psychological well-being.

CREDIT SUPPORT OF SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESS IN RUSSIA: TYPES, PARTICIPANTS AND ANALYSIS OF THE FACTORS REDUCING IT EFFICIENCY

The article stresses the significance of small and medium business to the development of economy and strengthening of social bases of public life. Special consideration is given to the methods of direct and indirect credit support of small and medium business, provided by the banking sector and governmental institutions. The analysis of development of small and medium business in Russian demonstrated the absence of expected positive dynamics. The paper emphasizes the necessity of changes in the principles of participation of the banking system in crediting of small and medium business. It is reasonable to improve efficiency of the process by simplification of the customer crediting procedure.

Farewell to Arms

How do rebels give up arms and return to the political system that they once sought to overthrow? Policymakers often focus on incentives like cash and jobs to lure rebels away from extremism. From the rebels’ perspective, however, physical safety is more important than these livelihood options. Rebels quit extremist groups only when they know that they can disarm without getting killed in the process. This book shows that retiring Maoist rebels in India believe that they could lose their lives after they disarm, targeted either by enemies they made during their insurgent career or by their former comrades. However, the Indian state would lose nothing if it failed to keep its side of the bargain and protect disarmed rebels. This creates a problem of credible commitment, which, in the absence of institutional mechanisms, is addressed locally by informal exit networks that emerge from grassroots civic associations in the gray zones of state-insurgency interface. Maoist retirement is high in South India and low in the North due to emergence of two distinct types of exit networks in these two conflict locations. By showing that the type of exit network depends on local social bases of an insurgency and the ties of an insurgent organization to society, this book brings civil society into the study of insurgency in a theoretically coherent way.

The structure and main features of social management

The article studies the structure of social management and examines the main features in detail. Sociology of management is a specific field of sociological knowledge; It studies the social bases, dynamic system, processes of management, their social functions and principles, features of management decisions, social aspects of management activities, their degree of effectiveness in organizations and society, relations in the field of management. Sociology focuses on the management of social systems, in other words, social management. Key words: Management, social structure, government, society, sociology