Domesticating democracy
Subtitle: the politics of conflict resolution in Bolivia
By: Susan Helen Ellison
Contributors: Duke University Press
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 281
ISBN-13: 9780822371083; 9780822370932
Subjects: Non-governmental organizations; Mediation; Conflict management; 15.85 history of America; Dispute resolution (Law); Social conflict; Conciliation (Civil procedure); Political activity
Description: Examines foreign-funded alternate dispute resolution (ADR) organizations that provide legal aid and conflict resolution to vulnerable citizens in El Alto, Bolivia. Advocates argue that these programs help residents cope with their interpersonal disputes and economic troubles while avoiding an overburdened legal system and cumbersome state bureaucracies. The author shows the ADR programs do more than that - they aim to change the ways Bolivians interact with the state and with global capitalism, making them into self-reliant citizens. ADR programs frequently encourage Bolivians to renounce confrontational expressions of discontent, turning away from courtrooms, physical violence, and street protest and coming to the negotiation table. Nevertheless, residents of El Alto find creative ways to take advantage of these micro-level resources while still seeking justice and a democratic system capable of redressing the structural violence and vulnerability that ADR fails to treat.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Fix the state or fix the people?; title: Cultures of peace, cultures of conflict; title: A market for mediators; title: A brief recess : conciliating conflict in Alto Lima; title: Between compadres there is no interest; title: The conflictual social life of an industrial sewing machine; title: You have to comply with paper.