Populismo, democracia y política social en Venezuela.
Resumen en: This article examines the main characters of the Venezuelan populism and its relation with the democracy and social policy, particularly with the strate...
Pobreza y asistencialismo en Venezuela
Con el objetivo de contribuir a discernir la compleja problematica de la pobreza y de sus posibles salidas, en este trabajo se discuten algunas razones que explicarian la continuidad del estilo asistencial compensatorio focalizado, propio de la politica social neoliberal, en la actual estrategia venezolana de atencion a la pobreza, pese a que el discurso del presente gobierno se opone frontalmente a dicho modelo. Destacan, entre otros, dos factores basicos: 1) la vigencia de los mecanismos psicologicos del rentismo, manifiesto en la cultura clientelar aun internalizada en el venezolano, tanto en los ciudadanos como en los gobernantes, a pesar de los cambios de la coyuntura economica y sociopolitica del pais, y 2) la importancia politico-estrategica del asistencialismo en funcion del objetivo prioritario, no declarado, de mantener una relativa paz social, legitimidad politica, estabilidad del gobierno y del regimen democratico. Se senalan riesgos potenciales del asistencialismo y se bosquejan algunos de los prerrequisitos que hoy exige el enfrentamiento a la pobreza en Venezuela.
Analysis: The Agenda 2007 Proposals: Evolution or Revolution?
On 10 February 2004 the Commission published its proposal for the financial perspective 2007-2013. A week later it adopted the third report on economic and social cohesion. These two documents form the basis of the so-called ‘Agenda 2007 reforms’. They will be the greatest challenge for the enlarged EU after the intergovernmental conference, since they will determine the financial basis for EU policy-making until the middle of the next decade. The Agenda 2007 proposals certainly hint at courageous reforms, because they place a previously unheard-of emphasis on performance and quality. Under the proposals, structural operations should generate value for money, and the funds should focus on projects which generate added value at a European level. Overall the Commission’s proposals point in the right direction, because they balance, on the one hand, solidarity for the new Member States and weak regions in the old Member States with, on the other hand, investments in future tasks. Moreover, they constitute a paradigm shift. For the first time, the Common Agricultural Policy will not be the dominant expenditure category. Now it is up to the Member States to examine the proposals politically and find a compromise between sometimes very divergent interests. It is to be hoped that, during the debate over expenditure limits and division of funds, national interests do not outweigh European interests.