Struggles for Sustainable Urban Development in Cochabamba, Bolivia

of the water war is viewed as a triumph for the people of Bolivia, a society where decisions
are made through ‘acclamation’ is far from ideal. This is not to dismiss the ideas behind
Bolivian popular movements, but
To praise all community protests as heroic and progressive is as problematic as
to blame them for being insular and self-serving (Hsiao & Liu 2004).
Escobar and Vásquez (2002) argue that because of the high amount of demonstrations,
people make irrational demands, which result in short-term and short-sighted decisions by
the government. Bolivia urgently needs to build alternative - legitimate and democratic -
means for the whole population to participate in decision-making to avoid further
deterioration in the rule of law.
Institutions for sustainable development
As the above experiences from water and transport management show, the features of
government institutions are a significant factor in policy processes. Institutions, regulations
and instruments for sustainable development have serious problems of relative institutional
weakness in Latin America (Ocampo 1999). There:
the failure of democratic institutions to function properly weakens their
legitimacy in the eyes of their citizens (Karl 2000).
In Bolivia the weak government agencies are struggling to gain legitimacy. According to
Connelly & Smith (2003) international agreements and programmes provide a legitimate
basis for local sustainability policies. However such agreements have mainly focused on
environmental threats perceived by the industrialised countries and the international
community (such as deforestation and climate change) and not local environmental
problems. Therefore the municipal government of Cochabamba has been left without this
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