
Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy
Participation, Politics, and Culture Under Chavez
Duke University Press
Will be published approx. on 5. August 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
408 pages
978-0-8223-5041-5 (ISBN)
Description
Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy brings together a variety of perspectives on participation and democracy in Venezuela. An interdisciplinary group of contributors focuses on the everyday lives of Venezuelans, examining the forms of participation that have emerged in communal councils, cultural activities, blogs, community media, and several other forums. The essays validate many of the critiques of democracy under ChAvez, as well as much of the praise. They show that while government corporatism and clientelism are constant threats, the forms of political and cultural participation discussed are creating new discourses, networks, and organizational spaces-for better and for worse. With open yet critical minds, the contributors seek to analyze Venezuela's Bolivarian democratic experience through empirical research. In doing so, they reveal a nuanced process, a richer and more complex one than is conveyed in international journalism and scholarship exclusively focused on the words and actions of Hugo ChAvez.Contributors
Carolina Acosta-Alzuru
Julia Buxton
Luis Duno Gottberg
Sujatha Fernandes
MarIa Pilar GarcIa-Guadilla
Kirk A. Hawkins
Daniel Hellinger
Michael E. Johnson
Luis E. Lander
Margarita LOpez-Maya
Elizabeth Gackstetter Nichols
Coraly Pagan
Guillermo Rosas
Naomi Schiller
David Smilde
Alejandro Velasco
Carolina Acosta-Alzuru
Julia Buxton
Luis Duno Gottberg
Sujatha Fernandes
MarIa Pilar GarcIa-Guadilla
Kirk A. Hawkins
Daniel Hellinger
Michael E. Johnson
Luis E. Lander
Margarita LOpez-Maya
Elizabeth Gackstetter Nichols
Coraly Pagan
Guillermo Rosas
Naomi Schiller
David Smilde
Alejandro Velasco
Reviews / Votes
"Taken together, these chapters make a number of important observations.... The book's main contribution is therefore to highlight some of the tensions that exist within contemporary Venezuelan democracy, and to show the diverse ways in which citizen participation expresses itself. The strength of the book is that it shows that serious empirical research on Venezuela is being undertaken." - Oliver Heath, Journal of Latin American Studies "[T]he authors of this volume provide rich material that sheds light on the novelty of the strategies pursued by Chavista leaders and the knotty issues brought to the fore by their initiatives." - Steve Ellner, Latin American Politics and Society "Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy makes it clear that, while transforming the political landscape, the ChAvez era also embodies important continuities with the country's recent past. The serious problems that the country faces and the social movements that support ChAvez did not emerge overnight; they are rooted in the inequities of the oil economy that took hold during the twentieth century. This book is a must read for anybody trying to make sense of the ongoing process of change that is remaking Venezuela."-Miguel Tinker Salas, author of The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela "This book evaluates Hugo ChAvez's Venezuela with a clear eye. Through nuanced attention to new empirical research in a rapidly changing context-who speaks, what people believe, who decides, and how power works-it offers a framework for analyzing the intertwined democratic and nondemocratic aspects of politics as it is practiced and lived. This multisited approach-looking from neighborhoods to media, activists to government institutions-could be applied with equal success to the postrevolutionary regimes of CArdenas or Castro, the populist governments of Vargas or PerOn, and the liberal democracies of the present."-Jeffrey W. Rubin, Boston University "Taken together, these chapters make a number of important observations.... The book's main contribution is therefore to highlight some of the tensions that exist within contemporary Venezuelan democracy, and to show the diverse ways in which citizen participation expresses itself. The strength of the book is that it shows that serious empirical research on Venezuela is being undertaken." - Oliver Heath (Journal of Latin American Studies)More details
Language
English
Place of publication
North Carolina
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
12 photos, 1 map, 13 tables, 8 figures
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
590 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8223-5041-5 (9780822350415)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

David Smilde | Daniel Hellinger
Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy
Participation, Politics, and Culture under Chávez
E-Book
08/2011
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€218.99
Available for download
Persons
David Smilde is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Georgia and the president of the Venezuelan Studies Section of the Latin American Studies Association. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal Qualitative Sociology and the author of Reason to Believe: Cultural Agency in Latin American Evangelicalism.
Daniel Hellinger is Professor of Political Science at Webster University in St. Louis and the former president of the Venezuelan Studies Section. He is the author of Comparative Politics of Latin America: Democracy at Last? and a co-editor of Venezuelan Politics in the ChAvez Era: Class, Polarization, and Conflict.
Daniel Hellinger is Professor of Political Science at Webster University in St. Louis and the former president of the Venezuelan Studies Section. He is the author of Comparative Politics of Latin America: Democracy at Last? and a co-editor of Venezuelan Politics in the ChAvez Era: Class, Polarization, and Conflict.
Content
Foreword: Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy / Julia Buxton ix
Introduction: Participation, Politics, and Culture-Emerging Fragments of Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy / David Smilde 1
1. Defying the Iron Law of Oligarchy I: How Does "El Pueblo" Conceive of Democracy? / Daniel Hellinger 28
2. Participatory Democracy in Venezuela: Origins, Ideas, and Implementation / Margarita Lopez Maya and Luis E. Lander 58
3. Urban Land Committees: Co-operation, Autonomy, and Protagonism / Maria Pilar Garcia-Guadilla 80
4. Catia Sees You: Community Television, Clientelism, and the State in the Chavez Era / Naomi Schiller 105
5. Radio Bemba in an Age of Electronic Media: The Dynamics of Popular Communication in Chavez's Venezuela / Sujatha Fernandes 133
6. "We Are Still Rebels": The Challenge of Popular History in Bolivarian Venezuela / Alejandro Velasco 159
7. The Misiones of the Chavez Government / Kirk A. Hawkins, Guillermo Rosas, and Michael E. Johnson 188
8. Defying the Iron Law of Oligarchy II: Debating Democracy Online in Venezuela / Daniel Hellinger 221
9. Venezuela's Telenovela: Polarization and Political Discourse in Cosita Rica / Carolina Acosta-Alzuru 246
10. The Color of Mobs: Racial Politics, Ethnopopulism, and Representation in the Chavez Era / Luis Duno Gottberg 273
11. Taking Possession of Public Discourse: Women and the Practice of Political Poetry in Venezuela / Elizabeth Gackstetter Nichols 300
12. Christianity and Politics in Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy: Catholics, Evangelicals, and Political Polarization / David Smilde and Coraly Pagan 317
Afterword: Chavismo and Venezuelan Democracy in a New Decade / Daniel Hellinger 342
References 345
Index
Introduction: Participation, Politics, and Culture-Emerging Fragments of Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy / David Smilde 1
1. Defying the Iron Law of Oligarchy I: How Does "El Pueblo" Conceive of Democracy? / Daniel Hellinger 28
2. Participatory Democracy in Venezuela: Origins, Ideas, and Implementation / Margarita Lopez Maya and Luis E. Lander 58
3. Urban Land Committees: Co-operation, Autonomy, and Protagonism / Maria Pilar Garcia-Guadilla 80
4. Catia Sees You: Community Television, Clientelism, and the State in the Chavez Era / Naomi Schiller 105
5. Radio Bemba in an Age of Electronic Media: The Dynamics of Popular Communication in Chavez's Venezuela / Sujatha Fernandes 133
6. "We Are Still Rebels": The Challenge of Popular History in Bolivarian Venezuela / Alejandro Velasco 159
7. The Misiones of the Chavez Government / Kirk A. Hawkins, Guillermo Rosas, and Michael E. Johnson 188
8. Defying the Iron Law of Oligarchy II: Debating Democracy Online in Venezuela / Daniel Hellinger 221
9. Venezuela's Telenovela: Polarization and Political Discourse in Cosita Rica / Carolina Acosta-Alzuru 246
10. The Color of Mobs: Racial Politics, Ethnopopulism, and Representation in the Chavez Era / Luis Duno Gottberg 273
11. Taking Possession of Public Discourse: Women and the Practice of Political Poetry in Venezuela / Elizabeth Gackstetter Nichols 300
12. Christianity and Politics in Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy: Catholics, Evangelicals, and Political Polarization / David Smilde and Coraly Pagan 317
Afterword: Chavismo and Venezuelan Democracy in a New Decade / Daniel Hellinger 342
References 345
Index