Why Bolivia and Ecuador Pivoted Their Foreign Policy Away From the U.S.

📌 What This Study Examines

This paper assesses changes in the foreign policy of Bolivia and Ecuador during the administrations of Evo Morales (2006–2019) and Rafael Correa (2007–2017), focusing on how domestic and international conditions interacted to enable reorientation.

🧭 How the Change Was Assessed

The analysis traces political and diplomatic shifts beginning in the mid-2000s and tests the working hypothesis that a linkage between internal and external developments made reorientation possible:

• Case scope: Bolivia (Morales, 2006–2019) and Ecuador (Correa, 2007–2017)
• Central claim: Reorientation resulted from simultaneous changes in domestic politics and international opportunity structures beginning in the mid-2000s

📊 Key Findings

• Domestic change: Greater political stability emerged from a restructuring of the party system, consolidating governing coalitions that could pursue a new foreign policy
• International change: The global environment became more receptive to progressive governments, expanding opportunities for alternative partnerships
• Policy outcome: Both countries diversified diplomatic and economic partnerships and pursued a foreign-policy orientation marked by an anti-United States bias

⚖️ Why It Matters

These dynamics show how synchronized domestic stabilization and shifting international alignments can enable substantive foreign policy shifts, with implications for understanding leftist governance in Latin America and the role of opportunity structures in shaping state behavior.