This article explores several dimensions of this issue in the context of Bolivia, with reference to political developments associated with the ascent and assumption of state power by Evo Morales, an indigenous leader of the Movement to Socialism (MAS), after a year and a half in power. The issues addressed in this paper are explored with reference to two sets of political dynamics, one having to do with the struggle for state power, the other with the use of state as a source of social change and the forces acting on the regime over sixteen months in the exercise of state power.