Swimming Through History: Bolivia’s First Century as Seen by G.R. Moreno

Abstract

The article examines the historical work of Gabriel René Moreno to identify its argumentative pillars in relation to the construction of the Bolivian nation. It describes how, in his various works, Moreno traces the military and civilian governments of the 1825–1880 period –classified as praetorianism– and their subsequent shift toward a second organizing axis, characterized by formal and partial democratization in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. In this second stage, Moreno shifts his focus from the country’s internal politics to the continental dimension, when Bolivia became part of the first attempts at international organization among Latin American countries.