I examine decentralization through the lens of the local dynamics it unleashed in the much-noted case of Bolivia and … only decentralization, but also democracy, from the bottom up. Beginning with Bolivia, I explore the deep economic and … performance, and hence of Bolivia's overall decentralization success. I then test these ideas using qualitative data from …

nation's politics from a typical 20th century, left-right axis of competition deeply unsuited to a society like Bolivia, to … new indigenous political class. Decentralization was the trigger - not the cause - that made Bolivia's latent cleavage …For 50 years Bolivia's political party system was a surprisingly robust component of an otherwise fragile democracy …