Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy

Venezuela's Bolivarian Democracy brings together a variety of perspectives on democracy in Venezuelan civil society. An interdisciplinary group of contributors focuses on the everyday lives of ordinary Venezuelans, examining the participatory forms of democracy that have emerged in communal councils, cultural activities, blogs, community media, and many other forums. The essays show that while Venezuelans have gained significant experience with new forms of social organization and participatory governance during the past decade, the central government still often displays a top-down corporatism. Many grassroots chavistas decry irregularities and allege manipulation of internal processes by bureaucrats and politicians. The essays in this collection validate some of their concerns, yet the contributors do not seize on these shortcomings to dismiss Venezuela's Bolivarian democratic experience as a familiar story of populism and clientelism. Instead, they reveal a nuanced process, a richer and more complex one than is conveyed in international journalism and scholarship 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 C. Hellinger, Michael E. Johnson, Luis E. Lander, Margarita Lopez-Maya, Elizabeth Gackstetter Nichols, Coraly Pagan, Guillermo Rosas, Naomi Schiller, David Smilde, Alejandro Velasco