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U.S. democracy promotion programs in Bolivia in the early 2000s originally sought to stabilize the neoliberal state through “soft” tactics whose origins were rooted in the “inclusive” neoliberal project of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada’s first presidency. As left indigenous social forces tipped the balance of power away from U.S. political allies, these programs were reconfigured to undermine the rise of Evo Morales’s Movement toward Socialism (MAS) through “hard” tactics including support for the right-wing departments of the western part of the country, where autonomist forces mobilized to destabilize the MAS after Morales won the presidential elections in December 2005. U.S. programs also continued to channel support to moderate civil society organizations and nongovernmental organizations that sought to confine the popular revolt within a liberal-institutional framework. Soft and hard tactics combined to promote neoliberal polyarchy. Estados Unidos buscó promover la democracia en Bolivia durante principios de la década del 2000 para estabilizar al estado neoliberal; sus tácticas “suaves” de promoción democrática partían del proyecto neoliberal “inclusivo” de la primer presidencia de Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada. Conforme las fuerzas sociales izquierdistas indígenas cobraron poder sobre los aliados de Estados Unidos, estos programas se reconfiguraron para contrarrestar la ascensión del Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) de Evo Morales. En este caso se utilizaron tácticas “duras” como el apoyo a departamentos derechistas en la parte oeste del país, donde fuerzas autonomistas se movilizaron para desestabilizar al MAS después de que Morales ganara las elecciones de diciembre de 2005. Los programas estadounidenses continuaron canalizando apoyos a organizaciones civiles y no gubernamentales moderadas que buscaron confinar la revuelta popular dentro de un marco liberal e institucional. Las tácticas “suaves” y “duras” se combinaron para promover una poliarquía neoliberal.

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Critical scholars and investigative journalists have developed a significant body of evidence demonstrating how US democracy assistance programmes undermine left and centre-left governments in Latin America. This article draws upon original research to examine how democracy promotion has sought to stabilise neoliberal polyarchy in Peru, a longtime regional ally of the US. It contributes to a neo-Gramsican theorisation of democracy programmes by examining how 'soft' tactics have contributed to the state's efforts at creating an inclusive neoliberal social order, a project which has ultimately failed. Particular attention is paid to the way in which US programmes were configured and carried out to respond to the rise of the 'anti-systemic' Peruvian nationalist party of Ollanta Humala, who won the recent presidential elections in June 2011.