Abstract

This paper examines how the concept of plurinationality relates to the notion of Bolivia as a formación abigarrada (motley, disjointed social formation), and how that social form corresponds with the political form of the state. René Zavaleta Mercado, one of Bolivia’s most influential intellectual figures, is best known for his conceptualisation of the country as a formación abigarrada, which underscores the coexistence of multiple modes of production and historical temporalities in the same geographic space. Zavaleta used this concept to examine Bolivian society as a set of historical structural articulations that develop over time in relation to different state forms. I argue that whereas the disjointedness of Bolivia’s social formation was always seen as a negative condition for Zavaleta, plurinationality has been enunciated as a positive possibility, a horizon beyond the socio-political formation of the liberal nation state. Thus, while we cannot properly theorise plurinationality without the analytic of lo abigarrado, as a condition of possibility plurinationality seeks to institutionalise in political form that which for Zavaleta was a negative social condition to be overcome.

摘要

本文研究了多元化的概念如何与玻利维亚作为一种形式（杂乱的、脱节的社会形态）的概念相关，以及这种社会形式如何与国家的政治形式相对应。René Zavaleta Mercado 是玻利维亚最有影响力的知识分子之一，以其将国家概念化为abigarrada 形式而闻名，这强调了在同一地理空间中多种生产方式和历史时间并存。Zavaleta 使用这个概念将玻利维亚社会作为一组历史结构性的表达，随着时间的推移与不同的国家形式相关联。我认为，虽然玻利维亚社会形态的脱节一直被视为 Zavaleta 的负面条件，但多元化已被阐明为一种积极的可能性，一种超越自由民族国家社会政治形态的视野。因此，虽然我们不能在没有lo abigarrado的分析的情况下正确地理论化多元性，但作为可能性的条件，多元性试图以政治形式制度化对 Zavaleta 来说是一种需要克服的消极社会条件。