An Ideology of Modernization: The Case of the Bolivian MNR

The coming to power of the Bolivian National Revolutionary Movement (Movimento Nacionalista Revolucionario—MNR) marks a major break in Bolivia's continuity of development, a major recasting of her social order. As a result of the 1952 Revolution the political and economic power of the traditional elite, which rested upon its ownership and control of most of the nation's land and natural resources, was substantially eliminated; power passed into the hands of new groups, including an emerging middle class, which was primarily responsible for the 1952 Revolution, and the Indian population, which for the first time acquired a considerable measure of economic independence and the opportunity to participate in national politics.