A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

For James Cooper, head of a small nonprofit promoting judicial reform throughout Latin America, working in Bolivia today is very much like practicing an "extreme sport: You have no idea what's going to happen. ... You go from moments of extreme happiness to total desolation."

That's life in the philanthropic fast lane -- under the auspices of President Evo Morales' new Bolivia. The former leader of the country's coca growers last year became the Andean nation's first indigenous president, putting an end to a history of white minority rule that he blames for his country's deep-seated poverty. So far, he has nationalized natural gas resources, launched ambitious land reform projects and promised to reexamine coca eradication programs.

This agenda has created an unfriendly environment that threatens foreign investment and challenges international relations. And it has also altered the terrain for philanthropic organizations that play an essential role in a country where nearly half of all public investment funds depend on foreign aid and private generosity.

Cooper's Proyecto ACCESO promotes the rule of law in Bolivia through unusual means. He has designed a clothing line with human rights messages and trained shoe shiners in La Paz to help impart civic education among their customers. Last month, he co-sponsored a national conference for law enforcement officials on the use of drug treatment courts and flew U.S. judge Laura Safer Espinoza to La Paz to share experiences from her Bronx courtroom.

Starting these and other projects has grown more complicated during Morales' administration. Simply meeting with government officials is an exercise in frustration. "The senior people are being replaced all the time and the junior people are too afraid to make a decision," he said. "The only expectation I have is to have no expectations."

Supposedly, the silver lining in this dark cloud is to be found in the following passage:

What's going on in Bolivia is not simply a problem of personnel shuffling, but the reflection of a radical change among those who hold power. In this transformation, the U.S.-based Soros Foundation sees opportunity. Together with the Norwegian government, it is currently exploring ways to help Bolivian officials develop the know-how to run the industries recently nationalized.

So, efficient administration of nationalized industry is the best that we can hope for in Bolivia? Not much of a silver lining if you ask me. And to be sure, the article doesn't seem to buy the conceit that there is a silver lining here to be celebrated. Quite the contrary; the article goes on to point out that Evo Morales's efforts at nationalization leave him less money to spend on social programs. Those who believe that Morales or his ideological compatriot, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, care about the poor, should seriously reconsider their beliefs, as the nationalization efforts pursued by both "leaders" only serve to deprive social programs of funds. I certainly don't believe that most well-funded governmental social programs are effective in the long run, but in the case of Bolivia (and no doubt, of Venezuela), the governmental social programs are not only bound to be ineffective in the long run, they are poorly funded presently.

The thing to take away from this article is that not only is there uncertainty wrought by the constant shuffling and reshuffling of bureaucrats in charge of running governmental programs, there is uncertainty as well wrought by the inconstant (at best) adherence to the principles of property rights and the respect for property that is attendant to the practice of those principles. No wonder philanthropic organizations don't want to invest in Bolivia. Both the personnel and the laws are but dust in the wind.