Colonialism has not been overcome. For Tapia, it is based, first, on extractivism, which subordinates colonized societies to conquering societies, while blocking the former's self-development and suppressing their political autonomy, in favor of generating rents for the metropolis or, in its modern forms, for large global corporations. And, second, on the establishment of a hierarchy between societies and a lordly relationship between colonizers and colonized.

Internal colonialism would be the incorporation by these colonized societies, regardless of skin color or class origin, of this colonial core. Tapia thus applies this theoretical development to post-independence governments and also to the long MAS government of Evo Morales. In the three essays contained in this volume, conceptual elaboration and critique are combined with an analysis of what has been the flagship of the region's progressive governments.

The political landscape he draws is far removed from the idea of ​​a more democratic state. Rather, the long MAS government cycle is ultimately defined by what Tapia calls a Creole Leviathan, a project that deepens extractivism, the authoritarian and lordly nature of the state, and the intersocietal-racist hierarchy.