Announcing: The Democracy Center's New Report On Bolivia's Struggle to Write a New Constitution

For more than a year, Bolivia has been in the midst of a historic struggle to write a new constitution. While the work of writing the new national 'magna carta' has taken place in the Constituent Assembly, elected by the people to undertake the historic task, conflicts over it have spilled out into the streets in every major city in the nation. That includes here in Cochabamba where three men were left dead in political street battles last January. The Assembly is scheduled to begin meeting again, after a two-month hiatus over the "Capatalia" conflict, this week in Sucre.

To help interested readers more fully understand what the Constituent Assembly and the process of constitutional reform means for Bolivia, The Democracy Center assigned a special team (a mix of Bolivians and people from the U.S.) to assemble the story. Our new briefing paper, Re-Founding Bolivia: A Nation's Struggle Over Constitutional Reform, is the product of their work.

Part One of Re-Founding Bolivia looks at the mechanism of a Constituent Assembly and its recent history in Latin America as a whole and Bolivia in particular. Part Two looks at the major issues before the Bolivian Assembly, from indigenous rights, to government structure, to land reform. Part Three tells the narrative of a difficult process in action, including the various conflicts that have threatened to sideline the Assembly and still do.

You can read the full paper here. As always, we look forward to your comments.