In this chapter, I analyze political identity in several contemporary left-aligned regimes in Latin America, focusing especially on Venezuela and Bolivia. Analysts have debated about the “revolutionary credentials” of these regimes. I argue that in both cases we observe innovative institutional design features that could be called “revolutionary”– including the institutional manifestations of Bolivia’s effort to create a “pluri-national state” – and I discuss several of these. At the same time, I argue, the legitimizing strategies associated with these projects are firmly rooted in nationalism (even as, in some instances, boundaries around national membership have shifted). The second part of the chapter develops a model showing it unlikely that alternative frameworks will emerge and diffuse in the near future in these and similar circumstances. This model is considered against the background of Latin America, but may generalize elsewhere.
