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Introduction
The explosion of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the developing world is especially associated with neoliberalism, as they were seen as the ideal vehicle with which to replace the state when the latter privatized many of its functions (Hulme and Edwards, 1997). Against the backdrop of the 'post-neoliberal' wave that swept over Latin America (Cannon and Kirby, 2012; Enríquez, 2013), however, the debate on their role in development has intensified. The so-called New Left governments (Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia) started to question the hegemonic development paradigms influenced by neoliberalism (Escobar, 2010). With the rise to power of Evo Morales and the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party in 2006 (re-elected in 2010 and 2014), the Bolivian case offers an ideal opportunity to examine the conflicts that emerge between a 'progressive government' and NGOs. NGOs in Bolivia face a critical backlash. Whereas neoliberalism attempted to de-politicize development by delegating the state's work to NGOs (Kohl, 2003), the central aim of Morales' political project is to achieve radical changes through a more prominent role of the state in development to reverse centuries of colonialism and social injustice. In this context, Bolivian NGOs are now perceived as an obstacle to social transformation.
The first MAS government (2006-2010) increasingly questioned the ideas and practices of NGOs. The National Development Plan of 2006 states in its introduction that NGO projects have been instrumental to the neoliberal model. The plan criticizes NGO practices as 'Western civilizational guidelines, whose formal language hides the devices of domination and social control that endorse the practice of colonial power and knowledge' (Ministerio de Planificación del Desarrollo, 2007, p. 5). The MAS government's development view, instead, is rooted in the concept of 'Living Well'1 as opposed to 'Living Better' (Vivir Mejor ), which is seen as being supported by individual rather than collective access to, and accumulation of, material goods (Ministerio de Planificación del Desarrollo, 2007). The 'Living Better' concept is implicitly attributed to NGOs working within the neoliberal model. The second MAS government (2010) sharpened this criticism further and targeted NGOs more explicitly. The two most visible heads of the government, President Evo Morales, a cocalero (coca grower) leader and the first indigenous president on the country, and his vice-president, Alvaro García-Linera, have...