Dr. Mark R. Goodale, of George Mason Univesity, will undertake short-term rapid response research on events surrounding the constitutional referendum in Bolivia, currently scheduled for January 2009. In August 2008, a recall vote set in motion a vote on a radical new national constitution. The researcher has developed an innovative hypothesis that the broader social conflict in Bolivia has its roots in a clash over two competing theories of the person, one dervied from the discourse of international human rights and the other asserts a notion of the person and society in which essential difference is seen as fundamental and is made the basis for state and social institutions.
In order to test this hypothesis, the researcher will (1) conduct ethnographic interviews with those actively involved in the election; (2) perform observational analysis on the constitutional process before, during, and after the vote itself; and (3) perform a content analysis of various print and media sources in order to understand how public opinion is being influenced during this period of rapid social change in Bolivia.
This brief project lays the groundwork for improving social scientific understanding of both social and political conflict in the post-Cold War period and the role that competing theories of the person play in these conflicts. The PI will forge institutional linkages with universities and NGOs in Bolivia that are working on the peaceful resolution of the social conflict. The project also supports the education of a graduate student from an underrepresented group who will assist the researcher in the field.
