Abstract

HETZER, Andreas. THE CONTINUITY OF THE HYBRID MEDIA REGIME IN BOLIVIA. Punto Cero [online]. 2016, vol.21, n.33, pp.9-23. ISSN 1815-0276.

At the latest since the 1990s, in Comparative Politics the view has prevailed that hybrid regimes are the most common form of political organization in different countries all over the world. In accordance with this conclusion, the present work is based on the assumption that the application of the concept of hybrid regimes can be equally fruitful for the analysis of the Bolivian media regime. Based on the qualitative analysis of five basic criteria (state control, violence, rule of law, political and economic independence, integration), the Bolivian media regime since 1982 can be characterized as hybrid which remains relatively stable under the current government of Morales. Although there can be seen some improvements in the media regulation and consolidation of media infrastructure after Morales took up office in 2006, the media regime continues to depend on the political and economic intervention; and is still exclusionary with blind spots in media legislation. The heuristic for the analysis of media regimes suggested in this article may be useful for civil society debates about the democratization of the existing media regime according to the model and consensus of public interest.

Keywords : political regime; media regime; hybrid; transition.

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