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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of institutional changes in Bolivia (2005-2016) in the power structures within the headquarters (HQs) of a Brazilian energy multinational corporation (MNC) and its subsidiaries in Bolivia.

This investigation is informed by a postcolonial South–South perspective. The Brazilian and Bolivian managers were interviewed and drawing techniques were used to unveil hidden power relationships. To achieve the multilayered objective, a Lukesian power framework was integrated into the analysis.

Traces of a postcolonial relationship between Brazil and Bolivia were found, even though Brazil never colonized Bolivia. The power structure within this MNC’s HQ and subsidiaries reflects a postcolonial relationship: local staff members see the Brazilian MNC as the holder of power of resources, process and meaning. Finally, despite its colonizing role, Brazil is depicted as a savior, not an exploiter. Much to the authors’ surprise, the institutional changes in Bolivia – the nationalization of its oil and gas reserves and the declaration of a plurinational state – have not affected the power relationships within the Brazilian MNC.

The contribution to postcolonial investigations within the international business field was carried out in different ways: a review of EMNC literature was conducted in the study for a South–South postcolonial perspective; empirical data from a case within South America were added; a Lukesian power perspective was integrated into the analysis; and finally, drawing techniques were used to unveil hidden power relations.

The aim of this paper is to consider the role of mass mobilisations against international business in Bolivia and analyse their wider implications for the structure of the state, relating this to recent studies looking at the scope of resistance to international business.

The analysis draws from a series of formal interviews with key political actors in Bolivia which were part of a wider ethnographic study exploring the emergence of the new hegemonic bloc in the country. The narrative is framed using the discourse theory of Laclau, and the methodology inspired by Bourdieu's understanding of social ethnography.

The paper finds that the uprisings against international business in Cochabamba in 2000 and El Alto in 2003 were pivotal in developing a wider critical consciousness to oppose neoliberalism in Bolivia. Subsequently, these social movements constructed a new identity as the “people” and implemented a more radical form of democracy.

The time period studied is such that it was impossible to assess whether or not this counter‐hegemonic movement has established a hegemonic bloc that has the potential to filter out into international resistance movements against business.

The paper offers a range of insights that may be useful to social movements concerned with constructing national and international struggles against capitalism and/or neoliberalism.

As far as is known, this is one of the first papers to outline how civil society resistance to international business can lead to wholesale shifts in the balance of power within a nation state and the construction of a substantively new political order.

The purpose of this paper is to present the strategies being adopted by the Government of the State of Bolivia to develop sustainable tourism both as a means of protecting the Bolivian Amazon and a mechanism for the realization of the “Living Well” vision of the national government.

The paper provides a synopsis of the principal trends in Bolivia within the last decade and then discusses the main tourism destinations of the Bolivian Amazon. The paper then outlines the strategies being adopted to develop a Bolivian brand of sustainable tourism and closes with the presentation of a vision of the Bolivia tourism of the future.

The findings confirm that in the case of Bolivia, tourism is an activity imbued with a high political ideal, and not merely a force that is at the mercy and direction of market forces and private entities. Tourism development is organically linked with concepts of community self‐actualization.

As an explication of the current tourism policy of the Government of Bolivia and a discussion of the strategies currently in operation to develop sustainable tourism and enshrine the “Living Well” principle, the paper has obvious relevance at all levels of the tourism implementation pyramid in Bolivia, as well as for planners in the Amazon region as a whole.

The Bolivia tourism strategy clearly has some unique characteristics in the context of the Amazon. This paper, therefore, brings to light an alternative national perspective with respect to tourism development in the Amazon region.

This paper examines the perceptions of Bolivians engaged in the country's apparel industry regarding barriers and challenges to participation in the global textile and apparel complex. Small Bolivian apparel producers perceive the apparel industry as a source of employment and an opportunity to improve the well being of their families. Government/small business relationships, economic and political uncertainty of trade partners, inadequate infrastructure, a depressed domestic market, and global trade policies were identified by participants as barriers to further development of the apparel industry. Apparel producers require support from both public and private sectors to foster entrepreneurship, promote Bolivian apparel products and join regional production networks to revitalize the apparel industry in Bolivia.

This paper aims to analyze Brazil’s governmental positions during two international conflicts involving major Brazilian firms and two South American countries: the nationalization of Petrobras in Bolivia in 2006 and the expulsion of Odebrecht from Ecuador in 2008. Brazil’s government officials showed themselves to be not only open to negotiations but also understanding and cooperative with Bolivia. The same policymakers, however, showed no trace of this accommodating behavior toward Ecuador. This paper focuses on the explanatory power of the ideas of the ruling Workers’ Party and sustains that this party has played a crucial role on shaping the current government–business relations in Brazil.

This research applies process tracing analysis within two case studies; and content analysis to operationalize the concept “Workers’ Party’s ideas” using 14 Workers’ Party’s official documents. It investigates the circumstances under which political ideas guide policymaking.

This work found a correlation between Workers’ Party’s ideas and Brazil’s governmental positions which first benefited Bolivian demands. On the other hand, these ideas found no representation during negotiations with Ecuador. To explain this variation, this study tested the link between uncertainty and influence of ideas. Uncertainty was both an “activating condition”, allowing ideas to come into play in policymaking, and a “magnifying condition” showing the dynamic relationship between the level of uncertainty and the level of influence of ideas.

This study contributes to the evolving debate on business and government relations in Brazil by focusing on the role of ideas and interests on policymaking.

The aim of this paper is to explore the existing linkages between Bolivian universities and the renewable energy (RE) sector as well as the current role and future potential of the higher education institutions to reduce the technology gap in the RE sector by technology and knowledge transfer.

The investigation is based on two surveys carried out in the frame of the JELARE project, financed by the EU ALFA III programme, with university stakeholders as well as market representatives from the RE sector.

The main findings were that Bolivian universities are far behind the market needs regarding RE technology transfer, the linkages between the higher education institutions and the market are weak and there is a lack of finance and expertise on both sides. On the other hand, potentials can be seen in the introduction of RE study programmes, the implementation of long‐term research strategies as well as internships and applied research programmes conducted jointly.

The research reveals significant deficits in university technology transfer towards the Bolivian RE market, but on the other hand it shows chances which can be taken as a starting‐point by policy makers and other stakeholders to boost local innovation and the development of the RE market.

University technology transfer regarding REs in poor developing countries has been scarcely investigated until the moment and the links between universities and RE labour market in Bolivia specifically have not been subject to research. The explorative surveys undertaken build a base for further research in this topic.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the viability for Bolivia of attaining the United Nations millennium development goal established in year 2000, of halving extreme poverty by 2015.

The study is based in numerical simulation with a model of the Bolivian economy. The model pertains to the (widely defined) family of dynamic input‐output models, and represents in detail income distribution, by size and socioeconomic class.

The millennium development goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015 seems to be a difficult, but attainable goal for Bolivia. Given the expected debt reduction agreed with international creditors, the goal can be attained by a combination of investment and redistribution policies.

It is implied that a new approach to development strategy is adopted. A new policy consensus is assumed to supplant the Washington Consensus. The new consensus model is based on objectives such as policy autonomy, structural change, and distributive justice. Poverty reduction strategy is a combination of policies associated with these objectives, viz. foreign debt policy, investment policy, and income distribution policy.

The study shows that capital account regulation, investment planning and redistributive policies might conform effective strategies for attaining the millennium development goals.

The study represents a different approach to poverty reduction strategy, which explores the economy‐wide effects of new policy instruments, particularly on growth capacity, output structure, and income distribution.

This paper aims to argue that one of the ways of enabling tourism to become sustainable is for archaeologists to relate archaeology to poverty, while being aware of the process of heritage production. It proposes that one way to engage with issues of poverty is to talk to people who are trying to get out of poverty. Many archaeologists are already at work using a similar perspective not just to integrate international scholarship with local interests, but to hand over authority relating to aspects of research to the local community.

This paper reviews literature about and archaeological study in the Bolivian Amazon region. Here, all-weather roads are scarce and unreliable. Scholars are beginning to document and analyze the archaeological record of this region, and as lowland Bolivians develop tourism, the article considers how archaeology could help connect the Bolivian Amazon to an international audience.

An anthropological perspective suggests that projects in which local people are connected to decision-making will have long-term effects. Without such integration, cycles of boom and bust are likely to repeat. The article cites two examples: the inscription of the Ichapekene Piesta Moxos on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and the Museo Yacuma, in Santa Ana del Yacuma. Community archaeology, in which the community makes decisions about how research will proceed, is a developing trend, which stands to benefit local people, archaeologists and tourists.

The paper outlines how community archaeology in the Beni region of Bolivia can be built on a strong foundation: first, by a community of Benianos that are ready, willing and able to be a part of both the development of tourism and of archaeology and second, via its long and varied archaeological record, providing plenty of material for the development of heritage. The question is whether a community archaeology can generate and sustain archaeological heritage as part of a tourism industry?

The purpose of this paper is to present reflections on the contradictions between structure and agency in theories of the Bolivian Revolution, 2000-2005. Most studies into the trajectory and outcomes of the revolutionary period in Bolivia between 2000 and 2005 tend to emphasise on the primary role of structural factors or social movements in shifting the terrain of political debate. This paper argues this represents a false dichotomy and discounts the value of this debate. In doing so, it seeks to highlight the need for research that focuses on the role of institutional variables that mediate between structure and agency.

The paper uses theories of the Bolivian Revolution, which occurred between 2000 and 2005, to highlight the way theory shapes – and is shaped by – the political organisations that espouse it. This constructivist thesis is applied to conceptions of neoliberalism and Katarismo, an ideology of indigenous liberation, based in Andean-Aymara history. The intellectual and political projects of each approach are demarcated. Theories that privilege either the intellectual project or political project in their narrative of the Bolivian Revolution are then queried.

As a consequence of this analysis, the paper concludes by emphasizing the need for political organisation and theory to be considered dialectically along the lines of Gogol (2012). It argues that further research into institutions is required to appreciate why some post-neoliberal projects flourish while others fragment.

The paper proposes a modified understanding of the interplay between structure and agency in conceptions of the Bolivian Revolution (2000-2005) and suggests an original approach to resolving the underlying questions that motivate these debates.

The purpose of this paper is to fill a gap in research into the small enterprise environment of the Bolivian prison, and to examine that environment and its possible value in prisoner rehabilitation.

To provide a first‐hand analysis of small business enterprises in the Bolivian prison, the author's experience of working in that context is used as field research material and provides the basis for a discussion of necessity‐based entrepreneurship in that unique context.

The paper provides a detailed description of the Bolivian prison's social organisation. It evaluates that structure as a unique environment distinguished from both other penal systems and other settings for necessity‐based small enterprise. The paper then discusses Bolivia's low recidivism rates, and draws the conclusion that the necessity for small enterprise activity in the Bolivian prison could have the unintended result of providing a successful prisoner rehabilitation mechanism.

Due to lack of governmental resources, the collection of recidivism data in Bolivia is extremely difficult. Future research into data collection methods in the Bolivian prison will be useful.

This is the first known study of the Bolivian prison as an environment that both necessitates and fosters entrepreneurial activity. It encourages the field of entrepreneurship and small business enterprise to think openly about possible contexts and benefits of successful entrepreneurial ventures.