Domesticating Democracy

Susan Ellison is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Wellesley College.

In Domesticating Democracy Susan Helen Ellison examines foreign-funded alternate dispute resolution (ADR) organizations that provide legal aid and conflict resolution to vulnerable citizens in El Alto, Bolivia. Advocates argue that these programs help residents cope with their interpersonal disputes and economic troubles while avoiding an overburdened legal system and cumbersome state bureaucracies. Ellison shows that ADR programs do more than that-they aim to change the ways Bolivians interact with the state and with global capitalism, making them into self-reliant citizens. ADR programs frequently encourage Bolivians to renounce confrontational expressions of discontent, turning away from courtrooms, physical violence, and street protest and coming to the negotiation table. Nevertheless, residents of El Alto find creative ways to take advantage of these micro-level resources while still seeking justice and a democratic system capable of redressing the structural violence and vulnerability that ADR fails to treat.

Acknowledgments  ix Introduction  1 Uprising  31 1. Fix the State or Fix the People  37 2. Cultures of Peace, Cultures of Conflict  64 3. A Market for Mediators  95 A Brief Recess: Conciliating Conflict in Alto Lima  121 4. Between Compadres There Is No Interest  134 5. The Conflictual Social Life of an Industrial Sewing Machine  163 6. You Have to Comply with Paper  194 Conclusion  221 Notes  235 References  255 Index  275