Paper short abstract:

Drawing on a case study of Bolivia's coca growers' unions and its relationship with the ruling MAS party, this paper provides important perspectives on the anthropology of the state by ethnographically capturing processes of localised state formation and their precarious forms of legitimacy.

Paper long abstract:

Bolivia's Movement for Socialism (MAS) party has its roots in the Chapare coca growers' unions. Evo Morales, coca grower and former President (2006-2019), is currently in exile in Argentina. In power, in line with its international obligations, the MAS government had to restrict coca and cocaine production, activities that represent the coca growers' main sources of income. For the coca growers this constitutes a moral betrayal. This is because local conceptions of democracy are rooted in the principal that leadership should remain collective, deferential, and directly accountable: leaders must 'lead by obeying. The coca growers' disillusionment with the MAS, and their shift from a language of solidarity to one of dictatorship, shows that authoritarianism is not an essential feature of a particular system or people -but rather has to be understood as the result of a negotiated process between government and grassroots movements. As such it provides important perspectives on the anthropology of the state by ethnographically capturing processes of localised state formation and their precarious forms of legitimacy.