Working Papers #111 - 120
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Anthony Kerrigan
Working Paper #111-August 1988
Anthony Kerrigan has spent a total of fourteen years in Cuba and thirty-five years in Europe, mostly in Spain and Ireland, and has published widely in the last two countries as a steady contributor to journals and as an editor of Goya (Spain's leading art magazine). His work has been translated into Spanish, French, Hebrew, and Hungarian, and his translations of Borges have been re-translated into Gaelic (Irish). He has published three books of poetry and translated over fifty books, winning the National Book Award for a seven-volume edited, annotated, and translated edition of Unamuno (The Tragic Sense of Life and six other volumes, Princeton). Inter alia he has taught at SUNY (Buffalo) and the University of Illinois (Chicago). He translated, annotated, and wrote the introduction to Ortega y Gasset's The Revolt of the Masses (Foreword by Saul Bellow) for the University of Notre Dame Press. His latest book is a translation of a novel by Arrabal, with a Foreword (Viking Penguin), and he has just been awarded an unsolicited National Endowment for the Arts Senior Fellowship in Literature "for an extraordinary contribution to American letters over a lifetime of creative work."
This paper was presented in part at a special assembly of the Kellogg Institute, and variants of the report have been presented at the Universities of Chicago and Virginia, Boston and Western Michigan Universities, and Macalaster College. The author thanks Caroline Domingo, Denis Goulet, Albert LeMay, and Rafael Tarragó for their helpful suggestions.
Abstract
This paper focuses on the availability of literature in present-day Cuba. The experience was gleaned in situ by the author, brought up in Cuba from the near in utero age of nine months (after conception in Panama) through adolescence, followed by later study at the University of Havana. He was soon a Communist Party member in his own right (pre-Castro). This piece was largely penned after a recent return visit to a Cuba declared (from the top down) to be Communist. The methodology (dictionary definition: "a particular procedure, or set of procedures") was based on the use of the five senses plus, perhaps, the use of a sixth sense based on having lived the life of the Left, first as a Stalinist, then as a Trotskyist (who volunteered for the POUM battalion in the Spanish Civil War), and finally with a youthful position akin to that of philosophical anarchism, doubtless based on a much berated "individualist" bent-Black rather than Red. Albeit reportage, the piece is based on lived experience, and is as "scientific" as any evidence adduced from seen and felt facts, a checking of the senses-the point of departure for all science. It is an idiosyncratic view, necessarily, but there is no element of fiction in this novella-of-oneself facing the somewhat hallucinatory phenomena of a closed society.
Resumen
Este trabajo trata del acceso que tiene el ciudadano en la Cuba actual a obras literarias de calidad. La experiencia en que se basa fue recabada in situ por el autor, quien vivió y se educó en Cuba desde la edad casi in utero de nueve meses (después de su concepción en Panamá) hasta la adolescencia. El autor después siguió estudios superiores en la Universidad de Habana y muy pronto se hizo miembro del Partido Communista por cuenta propia (en la época pre-Castro). El trabajo fue compuesto después de un reciente viaje de regreso realizado por el autor a una Cuba declarada (desde arriba) comunista. La metodología (definición en el diccionario: "un procedimiento particular, o conjunto de procedimientos") se basa en el uso de los cinco sentidos más, quizás, el uso de un sexto sentido, producto de haber vivido el autor una vida de izquierda, primero como stalinista, después como trotskista (voluntario del batallón del POUM en la guerra civil española), llegando finalmente el autor a una juvenil posición cercana a la del anarquismo filosófico, derivada sin duda de una marcada tendencia "individualista" (negro antes que rojo) reprendida y calumniada según la voga de todo "progre." Si bien se trata de un reportaje, el trabajo se basa en la experiencia vivida y es tan "científico" como cualquier evidencia aducido de lo visto y lo sentido, de un registro de los sentidos, punto de partida éste de toda ciencia. Es, necesariamente, un punto de vista idiosincrático, pero no existe elemento de ficción en esta novela-de-uno-mismo (vease Unamuno) de un undividuo que confronta los fenómenos un tanto alucinatorios de un mundo social cerrado.
(28 pages)
Fernando Coronil
Working Paper #112-October 1988
Fernando Coronil earned his doctorate in Anthropology and was William Rainey Harper Instructor at the University of Chicago. He has recently been elected to the Michigan Society of Fellows and received a joint appointment as Assistant Professor in the History and Anthropology Departments at the University of Michigan. During the fall of 1987 semester he was a Residential Fellow at the Kellogg Institute.
He worked on a book on state formation in Venezuela and carried out research concerning presidential politics and popular religion in Venezuela.
Abstract
This paper offers an interpretation of the transition to democracy in Venezuela by examining the orchestration of several coups d'état which were instrumental in the consolidation of dictatorial rule between 1948 and 1957 and in its overthrow in 1958. A critique of the application of the concept of Bonapartism to Venezuela by social scientists and local actors is used to highlight the distinctive ideological forms and social relations that characterize politics in a neocolonial rentier society. By exploring the interplay between forms of representing political power and of organizing economic activity, the author develops the argument that the democratization of Venezuelan political life was intimately related to the transformation (Gómez period onwards) of Venezuela into an oil nation.
Resumen
Este trabajo ofrece una interpretación de la transición hacia la democracia en Venezuela al examinar la orquestación de varios golpes de estado que fueron instrumentales en la consolidación del régimen dictatorial entre 1948 y 1957 y en su derrocamiento en 1958. Una crítica de la adaptación del concepto de Bonapartismo al caso venezolano por científicos sociales y actores locales es usada para destacar las formas ideológicas y las relaciones sociales distintivas que caracterizan la política en una sociedad neocolonial rentier. Al explorar la interacción entre las formas de representar el poder político y de organizar la actividad económica, el autor desarrolla el argumento de que la democratización de la vida política venezolana estuvo íntimamente relacionada a la transformación de Venezuela (del período de Gómez en adelante) en una nación petrolera.
(78 pages)
Timothy Power and Nancy Powers
Working Paper # 113 - October 1988
The authors (no relation) are doctoral candidates in the Department of Government and International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Timothy Power is a 1984 graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and received an M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Florida in 1986. His dissertation at Notre Dame dealt with the role of the political right in the recent transition to democracy in Brazil. Nancy Powers graduated with honors from Kenyon College in 1983. Before entering graduate school, she was a legislative aide in the Ohio General Assembly for three years. She specializes in the fields of comparative and American politics.
The authors would like to thank Guillermo O'Donnell, Caroline Domingo, and Erika Valenzuela for their valuable assistance in this project. They are also grateful to various participants in the meeting for their constructive comments and criticisms.
Abstract
On April 24 and 25, 1987, the Kellogg Institute and the Social Science Research Council sponsored a working meeting at the University of Notre Dame on "Issues in the Consolidation of Democracy in Latin America and Southern Europe in Comparative Perspective." Participants explored the possibilities for comparing developments in the new Latin American democracies with trends in Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey. The meeting was co-chaired by Guillermo O'Donnell of the Kellogg Institute and Philippe C. Schmitter of Stanford University; this paper synthesizes the main discussions and debates of the Notre Dame meeting.
Resumen
El 24 y 25 de abril de 1987, el Kellogg Institute y el Social Science Research Council auspiciaron el encuentro "Problemas de la consolidación de la democracia en Latinoamérica y en el sur de Europa: una perspectiva comparativa," que se llevó a cabo en la University of Notre Dame. Los participantes exploraron las posibilidades de comparar los desarrollos de las nuevas democracias en Latinoamérica con las tendencias en Grecia, Portugal, España y Turquía. El encuentro fue co-presidido por Guillermo O'Donnell del Kellogg Institute y por Philippe C. Schmitter de la Stanford University; este trabajo sintetiza las discusiones y los debates centrales del encuentro en Notre Dame.
(31 pages)
Ralph Della Cava
Working Paper #114 - November 1988
Ralph Della Cava is Professor of History at Queens College, the City University of New York. With Dr. Paulo Montero of the University of São Paulo, he is Co-Director of a three-year research project on "Catholicism and Society in Post-War Brazil," sponsored by the Pontifical Catholic University of Brazil with grants from The Ford Foundation and the Tinker Foundation, Inc.
Abstract
This paper examines the Catholic Church's interaction with Brazilian society from the military coup of 1964 through the years of repression and the long process of the abertura up to the inauguration of the New Republic in 1985. The author emphasizes the changing nature of the Church's role in the abertura, and outlines the history of the "People's Church" during this period, in particular the proliferation of the Comunidades Eclesiais de Base. The concluding section analyzes the turn to a conservative restoration within the Church in relation to the question of the durability of the CEBs.
Resumo
Este trabalho examina a iteração da Igreja Católica com a sociedade brasileira desde o golpe militar, passando pelos anos de repressão e pelo longo processo de "abertura", até a inauguração da Nova República em 1985. O autor enfatiza a natureza variável do papel da Igreja na "abertura" e traça um perfil da história da "Igreja do Povo" durante esse periodo e, em particular, da proliferação das Comunidades Eclesiais de Base (CEBs). Na conclusão, o autor analisa a restauração conservadora que se dá no interior da Igreja no que diz respeito à continuidade das CEBs.
(31 pages)
Toward an Institutional Analysis of State Socialism
David Stark and Victor Nee
Working Paper #115 December 1988
David Stark received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and is currently Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin. His research in the field of economic sociology on problems of work and organization in capitalist and socialist economies has appeared in American Sociological Review, Politics and Society, and Theory and Society, with publications abroad in Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, Soziale Welt, and Stato e mercato.
Victor Nee received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and is Professor of Sociology at Cornell University. He has written a book on Asian immigrants in the United States, Long Time Californin' (Stanford University Press), and several books on China, including The Politics of the Cultural Revolution (Monthly Review Press). He recently edited a book on party cadres in China, and is a frequent contributor to various journals, among them American Sociological Review. He completed an analysis of rural entrepreneurship in China, based on a random sample survey.
This paper is the lead essay in Remaking the Economic Institutions of Socialism: China and Eastern Europe, David Stark and Victor Nee, editors (Stanford University Press, 1989).
It is the product of the authors' joint and equal efforts. They thank Laszlo Bruszt, Paul Dimaggio, István Gábor, Daniel Kleinman, and Martin Whyte for their careful reading and criticism of an earlier draft, and give special thanks to Monique Djokic for critical suggestions at various stages of conceptualizing the paper.
Abstract
Twenty years of experience with economic reforms in Hungary and a decade of experimentation with reforms in China provide a critical mass of evidence for analyzing the problems endemic to centrally planned economies and the dilemmas faced in efforts to transform them. This paper surveys recent theories of state socialism and argues that the paradigms of totalitarianism and modernization theory are being replaced by a new perspective that changes the focus from ideology and technology to economic institutions and social groups. Whereas the earlier state-centered political sociology of socialist societies was preoccupied with party-state elites, research findings from the new perspective point to the relative autonomy of society as the activities of subordinate social groups place limits on the power of state elites. In reflecting on the Chinese and East European experiences, the paper traces a shift from conceptions of reform as a mix of planning and markets within the state sector to a mix of public and private ownership forms.
Resumen
Veinte años de experiencia con reformas económicas en Hungría y una década de experimentación con reformas en China proveen una masa crítica de evidencia para analizar los problemas endémicos de las economías centralizadas y los dilemas confrontados en los esfuerzos por transformarlas. Este trabajo considera las teorías recientes del socialismo de estado y arguye que los paradigmas del totalitarismo y de la teoría de la modernización están siendo reemplazados por una nueva perspectiva que enfatiza las instituciones económicas y los grupos sociales en vez de la tecnología y la ideología. Mientras que la anterior sociología política de las sociedades socialistas estaba preocupada con las elites del partido-estado, investigaciones basadas en la nueva perspectiva indican la relativa autonomía de la sociedad ya que las actividades de grupos sociales subordinados establece los límites sobre el poder de las elites del estado. Al reflexionar sobre las experiencias de China y de Europa del Este, el trabajo traza este cambio de concepciones: ya no la reforma considerada una mezcla de planeamiento y de mercados dentro del sector del estado sino una mezcla de formas de propiedad públicas y privadas.
(35 pages)
Rosario Espinal
Working Paper #116 - December 1988
Rosario Espinal is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Temple University. She has been a guest researcher at the Swedish Institute for Social Research at the University of Stockholm, a faculty fellow at the Kellogg Institute (fall semester, 1986), and a visiting fellow at St. Antony's College, Oxford. She is co-author of Democracia y Proyecto Socialdemócrata en República Dominicana (Santo Domingo: Editora Taller, 1986) and author of Autoritarismo y Democracia en la Política Dominicana (San José: CAPEL, 1987).
The author wishes to acknowledge gratefully the hospitality of the Kellogg Institute during 1986-87 when she had the opportunity to participate in numerous discussions related to the topic of this paper. She thanks Guillermo O'Donnell, Samuel Valenzuela, Catherine Conaghan, and Frances Hagopian for their support and encouragement, and also wants to thank Sherri Grasmuck, her colleague at Temple University, for her comments and suggestions. This paper was first presented at the conference "Labor Movements in Transitions to Democracy," sponsored by the Kellogg Institute with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Arthur F. O'Neil, and the International Development and Research Centre, and held at the University of Notre Dame, April 26-28, 1988.
Abstract
This paper examines the role of labor in the transition to democracy in the Dominican Republic. The author begins with a brief overview of the problematic status of labor in recent transition studies. Labor has tended to play a secondary role in Latin America's recent transitions, and several factors have been suggested to account for this: the supremacy of powerholders in engineering and directing the transition; the ephemeral nature of popular upsurges against the authoritarian regime; reliance on pacts that undermine popular involvement. The author also emphasizes the general weakness of Latin American labor movements themselves and the pressures of economic conditions adverse to labor. She argues that the weakness of the Dominican labor movement in particular and its limited impact in shaping the new democracy is related to Dominican labor's high degree of dependence on political parties and its "victimization" by intra-party rivalries. Together with low levels of unionization and detrimental economic conditions, this subordination to parties has worked against labor's incorporation into bargaining structures. However, the argument concludes, in the Dominican Republic as elsewhere, even when the labor movement is relatively weak, an unresolved labor question tends to produce a crisis prone democracy.
Resumen
Este trabajo analiza el papel que desempeñó la clase trabajadora en la transición a la democracia en la República Dominicana. La autora comienza con una breve consideración general del estado problemático de la clase trabajadora en estudios recientes de la transición. La clase trabajadora ha tendido a jugar un rol secundario en las recientes transiciones en Latinoamérica y ésto se ha atribuído a varios factores: la supremacía de los que sostienen el poder en el planeamiento y la dirección de la transición; la naturaleza efímera de las revueltas populares en contra del régimen autoritario; la dependencia en pactos que desaniman la participación popular. La autora enfatiza también la debilidad general de los movimientos laborales en Latinoamérica y las presiones de las condiciones económicas adversas a las clases populares. La autora arguye que la debilidad del movimiento laboral dominicano en particular y su limitado impacto en la formación de la nueva democracia está relacionado con el alto grado de dependencia de las clases laborales dominicanas en los partidos políticos y su "victimación" por rivalidades entre partidos. Sumado a los bajos niveles de sindicalización y a las condiciones económicas desventajosas, esta subordinación a los partidos ha dificultado la incorporación de la clase trabajadora dentro de las estructuras de negociación. Sin embargo, se concluye que en la República Dominicana como en todas partes una cuestión laboral no resuelta, aún cuando el movimiento laboral es relativamente débil, tiende a producir una democracia propensa a las crisis.
(32 pages)
David Pion-Berlin and George A. Lopez
Working Paper #117 - April 1989
David Pion-Berlin is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Ohio State University. His research focuses on governmental violence and repression, and the study of military elites in Latin America, with particular emphasis on military political thought and civil-military relations. His publications include The Ideology of State Terror: Economic Doctrine and Political Repression in Argentina and Peru (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1989). He has made numerous contributions to edited volumes on Latin American politics and has written articles for Comparative Political Studies, Armed Forces and Society, and the Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs.
George A. Lopez is Associate Professor of Government and International Studies and Faculty Fellow at the Institute for International Peace Studies of the University of Notre Dame. His research on gross violations of human rights and government repression has appeared in a number of publications including Chitty's Law Journal and Human Rights Quarterly. In addition he has been coeditor and contributor in such volumes as Government Violence and Repression: An Agenda for Research (Greenwood, 1986) and Testing Theories of Government Violence and Repression (Westview, 1989).
Abstract
Scholars have found that governments will often terrorize subdued, even compliant populations. Outside of the literature on genocide, little theorizing or empirical testing has been done as to the motivations behind unprovoked governmental violence. This study argues that governments may attack groups whose characteristics seem incongruent with their own ideological agendas. We delineate two major ideologies that guided the Argentine military to perpetrate state terror and gross violations of human rights as standard policy. In national security ideology, the junta found its rationale for the use of unbridled terror against a broad spectrum of the Argentine population. Guided by the hand of a free market ideology, the regime focused its terror on members of collectivities perceived to be irritably obstructive to the achievement of governmental objectives. Together these ideologies provided a motivation for the use of excessive levels of state violence by the regime and the identification of the victims of such violence. A regression analysis of previously undisclosed data on the social characteristics of the Argentine "desaparecidos," coupled with an examination of sectoral legislation, finds that individuals who were affiliated with large collectivities and certain politically powerful and strategically placed unions suffered a greater probability of victimization.
Resumen
Estudiosos del campo han encontrado que los gobiernos terrorizarán con frecuencia a las poblaciones sometidas si no sumisas. Aparte de la literatura sobre el genocidio, poca teorización o comprobaciones empíricas se han realizado acerca de los motivos de la violencia gubernamental no provocada. Este estudio arguye que los gobiernos pueden atacar a grupos cuyas características parecen incongruentes con sus propias agendas ideológicas. Nosotros delineamos dos ideologías principales que han guiado al ejército argentino para perpetrar como política normal el terror de estado así como graves violaciones a los derechos humanos. La junta encontró su razonamiento para el uso de terror desenfrenado contra un espectro amplio de la población argentina en la ideología de la seguridad nacional. Guiado por una ideología de mercado libre, el régimen enfocó su terror sobre miembros de colectividades percibidas como irritablemente obstructivas para la realización de los objetivos del gobierno. Juntas, estas ideologías proveyeron la motivación para el uso de niveles excesivos de violencia estatal por el régimen y para la identificación de las víctimas de tal violencia. Un análisis regresivo de información previamente no descubierto sobre las características sociales de los "desaparecidos" de Argentina, emparejado con un exámen de la legislación sectoral, encuentra que los individuos que estaban afiliados con grandes colectividades y en ciertos sindicatos políticamente poderosos y estratégicamente ubicados, sufrieron una mayor probabilidad de victimación.
(28 pages)
Robert Fishman
Working Paper #118 - March 1989
Robert Fishman received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University, and is currently Associate Professor of Government and Social Studies at Harvard. His book on the relationship between labor and the democratic transition in Spain, Working Class Organization and Political Change: The Labor Movement and the Transition to Democracy in Spain, is forthcoming from Cornell University Press. He developed a research project on the growing distance between intellectuals and working class communities in contemporary Europe. His research also includes an examination of the aftermath of failed revolutions, focusing on Italy, Spain, and Germany during the inter-war years.
This paper was first presented at the conference "Labor Movements in Transitions to Democracy," sponsored by the Kellogg Institute with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Arthur F. O'Neil, and the International Development and Research Centre, and held at the University of Notre Dame in April 1988.
Abstract
During the late years of the Franco regime, the Spanish labor movement demonstrated an impressive ability to maintain a high level of industrial conflict despite considerable repression. The labor movement hoped for a transition through a ruptura imposed by popular mobilization: instead, the transition period led to the Moncloa pacts; a decline in union membership and a series of failed strikes; an eclipse of union in favor of political party leadership; and a change in union policy from mobilization to restraint. One explanation advanced for this turn of events is that the labor movement was demobilized from above. This paper concedes that the close ties between unions and political parties contributed to greater union restraint, but argues that parties did not play much of a role in limiting labor demands. On the basis of a survey of plant-level labor leaders conducted in 1981, the author rejects the "demobilization-from-above" thesis. He claims that the most significant pressures for restraint came from below given the plant-level leaders' concern for the consolidation of democracy and their acceptance of the legitimacy of the new state, and the unwillingness of most workers to undertake aggressive mobilizations in the context of a growing economic crisis, plant closings and a rapid increase in unemployment. Labor's general organizational weakness is also not a product of a deliberate policy of demobilization. Rather, it is a legacy of the Franco regime-labor entered the democratic transition with a recent history of mobilization but little experience in building stable, strong, and autonomous organizations.
In 1987 there has been a resurgence of labor conflict and worker militancy, which also runs counter to the demobilization-from-above thesis. The author contends that plant-level leaders have retained throughout their capacity for judgments autonomous from both the national confederations and the political parties. Democracy is now perceived to be safely consolidated. The economy has stabilized with a resumption of significant growth. Thus, there is a readiness among rank and file workers and plant-level leaders to reject restraint. The Spanish labor movement remains organizationally weak and the level of formal union membership is still comparatively low, but this does not preclude large-scale worker mobilization.
Resumen
Durante los últimos años del régimen de Franco, el movimiento laboral español demostró una capacidad notable para sostener un alto nivel de conflicto industrial a pesar de una considerable represión. El movimiento laboral hubiera deseado una transición mediante ruptura impuesta por movilización popular: pero el período de transición condujo a los pactos de Moncloa; al descenso en la afiliación sindical y a una serie de huelgas infructuosas; al eclipse de dirigentes sindicales por los políticos; y a un cambio en la política sindical, de la movilización a la limitación de las reivindicaciones. Se dice que el movimiento laboral fue desmovilizado desde arriba. Sin embargo, aunque los lazos estrechos entre sindicatos y partidos políticos contribuyeron a limitar las demandas sindicales, los partidos no jugaron un papel directo en dicha restricción. Basando su análisis en una encuesta de líderes laborales a nivel de fábrica realizada en 1981, el autor rechaza la tesis de la "desmovilización-desde-arriba". Afirma que las presiones más significativas para la restricción vinieron de abajo, del interés de los líderes a nivel de fábrica por la consolidación de la democracia y su aceptación de la legitimidad del nuevo orden político, y de la renuencia de la mayoría de los trabajadores en movilizarse en torno a nuevas demandas en el contexto de una crisis económica con cierre de fábricas y un rápido aumento del desempleo. La debilidad organizacional de la clase obrera tampoco se debe a una desmovilización impuesta desde arriba, sino al legado del régimen de Franco. A pesar de sus altos niveles de movilización en los años anteriores a la transición, los obreros españoles no tuvieron la posibilidad de construir organizaciones estables, fuertes y autónomas.
En 1987 han resurgido los conflictos laborales y la militancia de los trabajadores, lo cual también contradice la tesis de la desmovilización-desde-arriba. Los líderes a nivel de fábrica han retenido su autonomía de las confederaciones nacionales y de los partidos políticos. La democracia se percibe ahora como algo consolidado. La economía se ha estabilizado con la reanudación de un crecimiento significativo. Por lo tanto, los trabajadores no quieren seguir limitando sus demandas en este nuevo contexto. El movimiento laboral continúa siendo débil organizacionalmente y el nivel de la afiliación sindical formal sigue siendo comparativamente bajo, pero esto no imposibilita niveles altos de movilización.
(40 pages)
Diego Abente
Working Paper #119 - March 1989
Diego Abente is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He has written extensively on the politics of Latin America in journals such as the Latin American Research Review and the Journal of Interamerican Studies.
The author would like to thank Roberto DaMatta, Michael Francis, Louis Goodman, Michael Grow, Daniel Levine, Guillermo O'Donnell, Karen Remmer, and Samuel Valenzuela for their helpful comments and suggestions and Caroline Domingo for her excellent editing.
Abstract
This paper examines the possibilities for the emergence of a situation that would favor a transition to democracy in Paraguay. The author analyzes the historical development of relevant factors, both structural-demographic changes, transformations in the social structure, and international realignments-and contingent-redefinition of space for the opposition, the decay of stronismo and the difficulty of reproducing it-and evaluates the implications of these changes. The overall conclusion is that the changes in the socioeconomic and geopolitical matrix tend to favor a democratic outcome, but it is unlikely that these alone could bring about a political transformation. Nevertheless, when contingent factors are also taken into account, particularly the nature of the last phase of stronismo and the beginning of post-stronismo, there are indications that Paraguay is entering a crucial stage that opens up a range of possibilities for liberalization and democratization.
Resumen
Este estudio examina las posibilidades de surgimiento de una situación susceptible de generar una transición a un sistema competitivo y participativo en el Paraguay. A fin de determinar las posibilidades de surgimiento de tal coyuntura democratizante, el trabajo analiza la evolución de una gama de factores estructurales (cambios demográficos, transformaciones en la estructura social, y realineamientos internacionales) y contingentes (la redefinición del espacio opositor, la descomposición del stronismo, y la dificultad de reproducirlo) y evalua sus implicaciones. La conclusión general es que a pesar de que las transformaciones en la matriz socioeconómica y geopolítica favorecen una salida democrática, es improbable que ellas de por si desencaden un cambio político. No obstante, dichas transformaciones en conjunción con factores contingentes especialmente relacionados con la última fase del stronismo y el inicio del post-stronismo, señalan que el Paraguay comienza a vivir una etapa crucial que abre un abanico de posibilidades para la liberalización y la democratización del país.
(54 pages)
Ruth Corrêa Leite Cardoso
Working Paper #120 - March 1989
Ruth Cardoso is a senior researcher in anthropology at CEBRAP and Emeritus Associate Professor of Social Sciences at the University of São Paulo. Her research has focused on urban popular movements and democracy in Brazil. Her most recent article, "Os movimentos populares no contexto da consolidação da democracia," was published in A democracia no Brasil: Dilemas e Perspectivas, Guillermo O'Donnell and Fábio Wanderley Reis, editors.
Abstract
This paper addresses the role of popular movements in the consolidation of democracy in Brazil in the context of traditional clientelism. The author stresses the need to change the political culture and create space for the assertion of full citizenship rights. She examines the process of negotiation among the movements, political parties, and the state apparatus, and the conflicts that arise, with the aim of reaching an understanding of how new sociopolitical identities are forged. In order to survive, community groups must both act pragmatically, making use of their most effective contacts, and at the same time adopt an ideological stance that affirms their autonomy. Moreover, while the groups all emerged from a common experience of exclusion, there is considerable diversity in both their negotiating strategies and their specific objectives. Despite these tensions, the author concludes that when space for participation opens, changes in the balance of power do occur and a degree of popular autonomy becomes possible. Without corresponding institutional changes, however, the changes occur haphazardly and the autonomy gained remains vulnerable and precarious.
Resumo
Este trabalho discute o papel dos movimentos populares na consolidação da democracia no Brasil, no contexto do clientelismo tradicional. A autora realça a necessidade tanto de mudança da cultura política quanto de criação do espaço para a afirmação de plena cidadania. Ela examina, também, o processo de negociação entre os diversos movimentos populares, os partidos políticos, o aparato estatal, bem como os conflitos que emergem em tal negociação, com o objetivo de alcançar uma compreensão da maneira pela qual as novas identidades sócio-políticas são forjadas. A fim de sobreviverem, grupos comunitários precisam tanto agir pragmaticamente quanto adotar uma postura ideológica capaz de afirmar sua autonomia. Conquanto todos os grupos tenham emergido de uma experiência comum de exclusão, eles apresentam considerável diversidade, tanto nas estratégias de negociação quanto em seus objetivos específicos. A despeito dessas tensões, a autora conclui que quando se abre o espaço para a participação, mudanças ocorrem que alteram o equilíbrio do poder, e torna possível certo grau de autonomia popular. Face à ausência de correspondentes mudanças institucionais, contudo, as mudanças efetuadas pelos movimentos populares somente ocorrem casualmente e a autonomia alcançada permanece vulnerável e precária.
(19 pages)
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