NGOs, Voter Turnout, and Political Protest: Sub-national Evidence from Bolivia
Carew E. Boulding
Introduction
In October of 2003 the small Andean country of Bolivia was rocked with violent anti-
government demonstrations that resulted in nearly 100 deaths and the hurried resignation of
President Sanchez de Lozada, who fled the country to avoid assassination. These protests, later
called the “October revolution,” were the culmination of a series of anti-government street
demonstrations and riots that have gained momentum over several years. The protesters,
comprised of groups of labor unionists, indigenous groups and working class citizens, were
called to action in part by a radio station called “Radio Pachamama,” a station run and staffed by
a prominent women’s non-governmental organization (NGO) in the impoverished adjoining city
of El Alto. Announcements made on the radio station helped coordinate large numbers of
protesters marching down the steep winding road from El Alto to La Paz, where they converged
on Plaza Murillo. This NGO is one of many in Bolivia that have received considerable amounts
of foreign funding from the United States and Europe since the 1980s as part of an effort to
promote civil society and strengthen democracy.
This anecdote suggests an interesting puzzle about the role NGOs have played in recent
political events in Bolivia. Contemporary democratization literature portrays NGOs as a bulwark
of civil society. Yet, as the anecdote above suggests, NGOs can also play a more controversial
role by mobilizing protest activities. Why would this be so? This paper answers two inter-related
1
The role of “Radio Pachamama” in organizing protesters is a story I heard from several sources while I was doing
preliminary field work in Bolivia during the summer of 2004.
2
Convention