The Divide of the Coca Leaf: National Culture and the Drug Policies of Bolivia and the United States

SPNA Review Volume 5 | Issue 1 Article 3 1-1-2009 The Divide of the Coca Leaf: National Culture and the Drug Policies of Bolivia and the United States Megan Koops Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/spnareview Recommended Citation Koops, Megan (2009) "The Divide of the Coca Leaf: National Culture and the Drug Policies of Bolivia and the United States," SPNA Review: Vol. 5: Iss. 1, Article 3. Available at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/spnareview/vol5/iss1/3 Copyright ©2009 by the authors. SPNA Review is reproduced electronically by ScholarWorks@GVSU. http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/ spnareview?utm_source=scholarworks.gvsu.edu%2Fspnareview%2Fvol5%2Fiss1%2F3&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages Koops/The Divide of the Coca Leaf THE DIVIDE OF THE COCA LEAF: NATIONAL CULTURE AND THE DRUG POLICIES OF BOLIVIA AND THE UNITED STATES Megan Koops Grand Valley State University While the United States and Bolivian cultures have different values, attitudes and norms, these differences have not been a major factor in determining the aid Bolivia receives from the United States (US). Now, President Morales, a former union leader for coca leaf growers, has refused to comply with US foreign policy to eradicate the coca leaf, creating political and cultural tension. This paper examines the US and Bolivian relationship as a case study through Schein’s organizational cultural theory and Adler’s culture theory to determine how Bolivia’s battle to save the coca leaf may affect the aid it receives from the US government and nonprofits. INTRODUCTION For centuries, Bolivian culture has drawn a strict distinction between the unprocessed coca leaf and cocaine (Andreas & Youngers, 1989). However, in the United States, many equate the coca leaf with cocaine addiction and dangerous narcotics, and thus believe that it must be eliminated as part of the war on drugs. Conversely, Bolivians view the United States’ zero coca policy as an imperialistic effort to dominate Bolivian culture. This paper explores whether Bolivia’s cultural values and attitudes regarding the coca leaf affects the aid it receives from the US government and nonprofits. To examine these cultural differences, the author first provides definitions of key terms associated with Adler’s cultural theory and Schein’s theory of organizational culture. Second, the paper explores organizational cultural theory based on Schein’s and Adler’s research. Third, an overview of the United States and Bolivian foreign relations is provided. Fourth, the methodology for analyzing the data is presented. Fifth, using a case study method, the paper applies the organizational cultural theory to the Bolivian and United States relationship. The paper concludes with suggestions for stronger cultural understanding using Trice and Beyer’s cultural change model to assist the United States in its reevaluation of its policy supporting the eradication of the coca leaf. Culture, Organization and Organization Culture Defined Culture Adler’s (1991) research helps to explain why conflict arises within the interaction between two significantly different cultures like Bolivia’s and the United States’. It is critical to have a solid comprehension of an anthropological definition of culture, such as Kroeber and Kluckhohn’s; theirs is a definition that is the most comprehensive and generally accepted: Culture consist of patterns, explicit and implicit of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiment in artifacts; the essential core of culture consist of traditional (i.e., historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture system may, on the one hand be considered as products of action, on the other, as conditioning elements of future action. (1952, p.181) It is from Kroeber and Kluckhohn’s definition that Adler draws the elements required for a culture to flourish and develop. Furthermore, her theory explains how for a cultural outsider to successfully work in a different culture a solid comprehension of the culture is required. To do this, an individual needs to understand how behavior, values, and attitudes create a culture; see Figure 1 as to how these three elements are interwoven. First, behavior is any form of human action that is perceived normal within a culture (Adler, 1991). In the United States, employing governmental policy to eliminate a drug and its origins has become the normal course of action. The belief is that eliminating the source of the drug will eliminate the problem. Within the government, there are not strong dissenting voices regarding US drug policy, and the public hears from the government a single narrative of how the only viable solution to eliminating cocaine addiction is through vigorous law enforcement and the eradication of the coca leaf (Gamarra, 1997). Second, according to Adler (1991), values are general beliefs that define what is right, wrong and general preferences within a culture. Research demonstrates that personal values affect all forms of organizations’ policies and that managerial values affect all forms of organizational behavior, group leadership, behavior, conflict levels 10 Koops/The Divide of the Coca Leaf and communication. For example, Bolivians consider the coca leaf harmless unprocessed (Léons and Sanabria, 1997), like before processing poppy seeds into heroin. In the United States, the culture developed the general belief that the coca leaf itself causes cocaine to be a dangerous and additive drug (Gamarra, 1997). Finally, attitudes are constructed to express values and dispose individuals to act or react in a certain way toward something. Attitudes are present in relationships between a person and an object. In Bolivia, preserving the coca leaf is an attempt at preserving pre-European colonization Bolivian culture. A vast majority of modern Bolivian culture developed because of the imperialistic ideals of the Spaniards toward suppressing and eliminating indigenous culture (Léons and Sanabria, 1997). Currently, President Evo Morales is working to revise indigenous culture, and part of this work is attempting to educate the Western world about the truth and the importance of the coca leaf to Bolivian culture. Figure 1: Behavior Culture Attitudes Values Adler 1997 Organizations Cultures form within groups. Thus, Adler’s definition of an organization is any group with a stable membership (i.e. citizens of a country or membership with a nonprofit) and a history of collectively working toward the same goals (1997). Furthermore, the definition of an organization is very similar to that of cultures. Group identity forms through organizations and cultures. Without group identity, a culture cannot exist, rather only an aggregate of people. Schein frequently notes that organizations are difficult to define in time and space. They are themselves open syste (...truncated)