Review

Reviewed Work(s): Bolivia: Land, Location, and Politics since 1825 by J. Valerie Fifer
Review by: Joel G. Verner
Source: The Journal of Developing Areas, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Oct., 1973), pp. 125-127
Published by: College of Business, Tennessee State University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4190110
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 Book Reviews 125

the 1970s, partly as a result of U.S. programs of assistance to Latin Ameri-

can agriculture. These programs, says Feder, have been strongly influenced
by the green revolutionaries and the mechanizers and have been focused
on the larger farmers. Thus they are likely to accelerate increases in un-
employment, underemployment, landlessness, and seasonal and migratory
labor movements. There is a danger, certainly, that this will occur; but
the battle between the technocrats and reformers is not over, and there is
no necessary conflict between these two groups. Indeed, the corps of
"technocratic reformers" seems to be growing (even within the U.S. govern-
ment), as is the body of evidence indicating that application of modem
(nonmechanized) technology to small farms offers good prospects of
helping to relieve the employment problem and to raise the incomes of
small farmers. Most of this group seems to agree with Feder that land
reform is a necessary first step, and their case is persuasive.
Curiously, while Feder does a good job of describing the pressures put
on the U.S. government by the technocrats, he does not mention pressures
from reformist groups and agencies, such as the Land Tenure Center at
the University of Wisconsin, with whose efforts he is well acquainted. I
would suggest that these voices are being heard (AID's agricultural de-
velopment policy in Latin America is not as monolithic as Feder and
others suggest), and that they are likely to be more influential in the
near future, thanks to the revelations of economists like Feder himself.
But until these voices become dominant, it is difficult to escape Feder's
conclusion that "latifundismo must inevitably lead to increasingly frequent
and violent social and political conflicts" (p. 266).

CLARENCE ZUVEKAS, JR.

Moorhead (Minnesota) State College

BOLIVIA: LAND, LOCATION, AND POLITICS SINCE 1825. By J.

Valerie Fifer. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1972. Pp. xiii + 301,
$23.50.

This book by Professor Fifer, lecturer in geography at the University

of London, makes a valuable contribution to the literature on Bolivian his-
tory, politics, and foreign policy. It is skillfully written, based on solid
and detailed research, and comprehensive. One of the many reasons that
makes the book such an enjoyable experience for the reader is that it
presents an important thesis and proceeds to demonstrate, chapter by chap-
ter, its validity and significance, in doing which data is presented for under-
standing the evolution of Bolivian foreign policy. The author's thesis is
that since the earliest days of independence in 1825, Bolivia's foreign policy
has been largely determined by its geographical location, that Bolivia's
national growth and development have been affected adversely by its
landlocked position in the interior of South America, and that Bolivia's
relations with its neighbors (Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, and
Paraguay) and its role in the wider context of international relations (espe-
cially with Britain and the United States) have been influenced by the
frustrations of its location. Simply stated, Fifer argues persuasively that

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126 Book Reviews

Bolivia's fundamental need for an outlet to the sea, the Pacific and the
Atlantic, accounts for most of its foreign policies toward neighbors during
the past 140 years.
The author also reviews the long-term effects of Bolivia's landlocked
position and of its foreign policy on internal development. She argues that
because of the country's location, it stood back from "those areas which
tempted both the foreign investor and the overseas immigrant to South
America during the nineteenth century" (p. 4). Bolivia also failed to share
later in the advantages of direct contact with the new ocean steamship
routes and their effective reduction of worldwide distances. In addition,
the country did not experience or benefit from the increased mobility af-
forded by the first phases of railway construction in South America. It also
failed to benefit from extensive trade and contact with the outside world.
Access to the coast, by direct and indirect means, has thus been a priority
objective in the conduct of Bolivia's external affairs-a priority that diverted
energy from internal development-and was sought in many ways: by
proposed exchanges of territory, by improved access to the navigable por-
tions of international waterways, by demands for a corridor to the Pacific,
by free port and free transit agreements, and, unfortunately, by permissive
exploitation of its resources by foreign investors and war with its neighbors.
The author states that Bolivia's physical and cultural isolation emphasized
internal weakness, accentuated grievances with its neighbors, and stifled
economic development and social integration. In exchange for temporary
outlets-railways and free transit agreements-and as a result of lost wars
and broken treaties, Bolivia's territory was progressively reduced to about
half of what it had claimed at independence. The author suggests that all
of this only served to intensify the country's problems and frustrations.
The design of the book is straightforward. The introduction contains an
effective and clear statement of the thesis and summarizes briefly the
major points made in the rest of the book. Chapter 1 covers a useful,
although brief history of Bolivia from precolonial times to independence
in 1825. Here the author discusses the growth of towns, the role of Bolivia
in the Spanish colonial system, the beginnings of silver and nitrate mining,
Bolivia's political origin and organization, and the extent and conditions
of Bolivia's territory. The two major conclusions of the chapter are that:
(1) Bolivia had a strong interest in maintaining its outlet to the Pacific
through the town of Arica (now in Chile), and (2) it could claim for itself
approximately 350 miles of the 5,000-mile Pacific Coast of South America
at independence.
Chapter 2, entitled "The Western Sector: Routes to the Pacific," assesses
Bolivia's attempts to gain access to the Pacific through Chile and Peru,
both before and after it lost its territory on the Pacific in the War of 1879-82.
Bolivia's dismal relations with Chile and Peru are described and analyzed
in detail. The author indicates how the guano boom of 1840-70 and the
nitrate boom of 1870-1918 exacerbated Bolivia's frustrations in being denied
an outlet through the western sector by these two countries. Some space
is also given to Chile's development of Bolivia's "lost lands," Bolivia's recent
activities in the Organization of American States to get legalization of its
"rights to the sea," and its final attempts to regain the import port of Arica.

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 Book Reviews 127

Chapter 3 deals with the "Northern Sector," Bolivia's attempts to gain

routes to the Atlantic through the Amazon and its foreign policies toward
Brazil and Peru. A variety of subjects are discussed with regard to the
northem sector: early explorations of Bolivia's northem frontier, creation
of the boundaries between Brazil and Bolivia, early failures at building
railroads into the Amazon, bark and rubber booms in the 1870s and 1880s,
the Acre boundary controversy with Brazil (1899-1903), and the eventual
decline of the northern sector. Chapter 4, in turn, reviews and assesses
Bolivia's drives for outlets through the southern sector to the Atlantic via
the Paraguay-Parana-Rio de la Plata waterways. In this chapter Bolivia's
relations with Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay are outlined. Such topics
as Bolivia's attempts to navigate the river systems in the southern sector,
the rival claims to the river systems, Bolivia's attempts to build roads and
railroads to the south, the Chaco War (1932-35) between Bolivia and
Paraguay, the "rail-for-oil" agreements and a myriad of treaties and con-
ferences in the post-Chaco period, and the decline of Bolivia's interest in
the Paraguay route are assessed.
The final chapter, entitled "The Wider Implications of Location," surveys
Bolivia's relationships with the rest of Latin America, the United Kingdom,
and the United States. The rather strained relations between Britain and
Bolivia and the role of American trade with and aid to Bolivia are examined
in terms of Bolivia's geographic problems. The author demonstrates
throughout the book the overwhelming importance that attaches to Bolivia's
need and desire for a corridor to the sea. Summarizing her argument, the
author states that this "has proved to be the most endurable item of foreign
policy throughout the country's successive and diverse administrations"
(p. 262). Although the argument has a geopolitical basis, it does not suffer
from the exaggerations or distortions of early geopolitical studies.
The book is comprehensive, detailed, yet intriguing. It is the product
of original and intensive research. No doubt this encyclopedic tome will
quickly become the definitive work and research source on the relation
between Bolivia's geography and foreign policy. It is rich in bibliography,
maps, tables, data, and facts. This reviewer would certainly recommend it
to those interested in sociopolitical development, political geography, and
Bolivian foreign policy and history. Here is a book that can very profitably
be read for its poignant insights and clear analyses. It continues the high
academic tradition of the Cambridge Latin American Studies series, but
its price is rather high.

JOEL G. VERNER
Illinois State University

INFLATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN BRAZIL, 1946-

1963. By Raouf Kahil. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. Pp. xiv +
357, $38.25.

This book investigates the inflationary situation in Brazil during the

period 1945-63 and the possible relationship between Brazil's development
and its inflation. The author constructs his analysis around the structuralist

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