DEVELOPMENT SWOT: BOLIVIA

Bolivia, named after

independence fighter
Simon BOLIVAR, broke
away from Spanish rule
in 1825;
much of its subsequent
history has consisted of
a series of nearly 200
coups and
countercoups.
Democratic civilian rule
was established in 1982,
but leaders have faced
difficult problems of
deep-
seated poverty, social
unrest, and illegal drug
production.
Bolivia, named after
independence fighter
Simon BOLIVAR, broke
away from Spanish rule
in 1825;
much of its subsequent
history has consisted of
a series of nearly 200
coups and
countercoups.
Democratic civilian rule
was established in 1982,
but leaders have faced
difficult problems of
deep-
seated poverty, social
unrest, and illegal drug
production.
INTRODUCTION
Bolivia, named after
independence fighter
Simon BOLIVAR, broke
away from Spanish rule
in 1825;
much of its subsequent
history has consisted of
a series of nearly 200
coups and
countercoups.
Democratic civilian rule
was established in 1982,
but leaders have faced
difficult problems of
deep-
seated poverty, social
unrest, and illegal drug
production.
Bolivia, named after
independence fighter
Simon BOLIVAR, broke
away from Spanish rule
in 1825;
much of its subsequent
history has consisted of
a series of nearly 200
coups and
countercoups.
Democratic civilian rule
was established in 1982,
but leaders have faced
difficult problems of
deep-
seated poverty, social
unrest, and illegal drug
production.
Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon Bolivar , broke away from Spanish rule in
1825; much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of nearly 200 coups and
countercoups. Democratic civilian rule was established in 1982, but leaders have faced difficult
problems of deep-seated poverty, social unrest, and illegal drug production. Its capital is La Paz

With the SWOT analysis we can analyse the feats of the country in terms of internal and
external factors.

INTERNAL

Strengths

The most spoken language is the Spanish, which is one of the most spoken languages
worldwide therefore they can easily get in touch with Spain and other Spanish speakers
countries , and it is easier for their citizens to emigrate and immigrate to Bolivia.
They have various climates which varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid ,
but in the main liveable zones hey enjoy a tropical climate with medium temperatures along the
year what can appeal both tourists and immigrants.

They are the 29th biggest country in the world and the 5 th in South America with 34.3% of
agricultural land and full of natural resources such as tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten,
antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower out of which they could make profit.

It also has a great labour force as it is the 70 th most populated country in the world.

Weaknesses

As we can see the weaknesses highly surpass the strengths , that’s why Bolivia is in a poverty
trap.

Bolivia ranks at or near the bottom among Latin American countries in several areas of health
and development, including poverty, education, fertility, malnutrition, mortality, and life
expectancy.

Bolivia’s income inequality is the highest in Latin America and one of the highest in the world.
Public education is of poor quality, and educational opportunities are among the most unevenly
distributed in Latin America, with girls and indigenous and rural children less likely to be
literate or to complete primary school. The lack of access to education and family planning
services helps to sustain Bolivia’s high fertility rate—approximately three children per woman.
In addition women married at the age of 18 amounts to 19.7% , which shows the lack of
opportunities foe women and the dependence on men.

Bolivia’s lack of clean water and basic sanitation, especially in rural areas, contributes to health
problems.

Bolivia is one of the few countries in South America without coastline which represent a major
drawback in terms of trade.

The Boliviano is the currency if this country and has low value compared to the dollar, what’s
more is a weak currency as the political issues debilitates its credibility. The Boliviano’s
weakness prevents people from investing their money on this country, resulting on a national
and international lack of investment.

All these weaknesses are mainly due to the poor governance of the country. In the 21st century
Bolivia has seen a change in politics and representation in government. In the midst of a
political crisis between 2001 and 2005, the country had four presidents after the resignation of
Hugo Banzer Suárez: Jorge Quiroga (August 2001-August 2002), Gonzálo Sánchez Lozada
(August 2002-October 2003), Carlos Mesa (October 2003-June 2005; who has just participated
in the presidential elections) and Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé (June 2005-January 2006). In 2006,
Evo Morales became the first indigenous president in the country's history (2006-2010) and was
re-elected twice (2010-2015 and 2015-2019) in which he was accused of fraud leading to the
end of its mandate. The interim government of Jeanine Áñez (November 2019 to November
2020) promoted judicial processes based on unfounded charges against political opponents.
Similarly, the government of Luis Arce (November 2020 to date) supports disproportionate
accusations of terrorism and genocide against former President Áñez without the necessary
evidence. There has been a continuous fight for power surrounded by corruption. With no
effective measures to fight against poverty and human development.

EXTERNAL

OPPORTUNITIES

It can eventually take advantage of Venezuela’s problems and host immigrants from there , but
as in Bolivia things are also complicated in terms of politics and economy is not very feasible.

They can take advantage of the high price of energies and sell their own energy as they are rich
in natural resources.

It has strong international allies such as signatories" China, Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, Cuba, Ecuador, Iran, Nicaragua, Russian Federation and Venezuela. With whom they
can trade and make agreements.

THREATS

Bolivia’s alliances are a doubled edged sword as they are the enemies of Europe and EEUU.
Therefore, it has bad international relationship with EEUU,Chile, Brazil and Argentina. Some
of this are barriers from Bolivia to the nearest coastline , what is a real damage for the country’s
trade.

The global crisis that has ended in recession is even worse in developing countries such as
Bolivia , the fall in asset prices, the decrease in liquidity and the growing uncertainty in
financial markets has already began to have an impact on economic activity. The resulting
reduction in aggregate demand spread throughout the world via international trade channels,
accentuating the recessionary dynamic.
Another huge thread is the climate change , Bolivia has a geography shaped with the rugged
Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills, and lowland plains of the Amazon
Basin. The clearing of land for agricultural purposes and the international demand for tropical
timber are contributing to deforestation; soil erosion from overgrazing and poor cultivation
methods (including slash-and-burn agriculture); desertification; loss of biodiversity; industrial
pollution of water supplies used for drinking and irrigation. They are naturally likely to have
floodings in the northeast (March to April) which can be more accusated due to climate change.