Territories and Coca and Cocaine: Bolivia's Drug Economy, Political Movements, and Transnational Crime (2005-2025)

This study questions whether Bolivia in the period between 2005 and 2025 should be considered a narco-state, a narco-democracy, or a new hybrid model.1 The evidence suggests that Bolivia is best described as a narco-competitive authoritarian regime, a system in which elections are held and formal democratic institutions persist, but incumbents tilt the playing field through repression, judicial manipulation, and systematic harassment of opponents, while the cocaine economy penetrates unions, regions, and state institutions.2 Presidents Evo Morales and later Luis Arce sought to build a one-party state under the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS). Human rights violations were routine, political prisoners and exiles were common, and civic spaces were restricted. Both leaders kept Bolivia deeply enmeshed in the global cocaine economy.