Suchergebnisse

This essay has two objetives. In the first place, it is a discussion of the development of the coup d'etat against Hugo Chávez during April 11th at 14th of 2002, focusing on the competing views of the opposition and supporters of the government in relation to three processes: the march against the violation of "meritocracia" in the oil industry (corporate criteria for selecting the managers of the state's oil company), the massacre that took place on April 11th, and the act of proclamation of Pedro Carmona as president on April 12th. The essay examines in particular the choreography of these events and the changing conceptions of the nation and the state involved in these processes. Secondly, on the basis of this examination, the essay concludes with some theoretical observations concerning the state, its constitution, and the manner in which it exerts its hegemony. ; Este ensayo tiene dos objetivos. En primer lugar, es una discusión sobre el golpe de Estado contra Hugo Chávez que se desarrolló entre el 11 y el 14 de abril de 2002. Se enfoca en las contrapuestas visiones de la oposición y de los partidarios del gobierno en relación con tres procesos: la marcha en protesta contra la violación de la meritocracia petrolera, la masacre del 11 de abril y el acto de proclamación de Pedro Carmona como presidente el 12 de abril. Examina en particular la coreografia de estos eventos y la transformación de las concepciones de la nación y el Estado involucradas en estos procesos. En segundo lugar, sobre la base de esta examinación, el ensayo concluye con algunas observaciones teóricas sobre el Estado, su constitución y la forma como ejerce su hegemonía.

Although political violence has played a central part in the formation of nations, its historical constitution and its role in representing nations havereceived scant attention. All too frequently the explanation of violence is equated with the identification of its causes, its form is accounted for by its function, and its function is seen in instrumental terms; violence is reduced to a practical tool used by opposing social actors in pursuit of conflicting ends. Whether treated as a cause, function, or instrument, violence is generally assumed rather than examined in its concreteness. Little attention is paid to its specific manifestations, to the way its effects are inseparably related to the means through which it is exerted, and to the meanings that inform its deployment and interpretation. In contrast, typological approaches that postulate a correspondence between types of societies and forms of violence often recognize the opacity of violence yet lose sight of the historical depth and specificity of its manifestations.

Development policy is analyzed by liberal models in terms of bargaining transactions between interest-maximizing actors and by the dependency perspective in terms of the internalized requirements of worldwide capital accumulation. Both approaches assume the working of capitalist rationality in dependent nations. In contrast, a focus on productive relations, class alliances, and political coalitions reveals the constraints on developmental policies in nations built around the partial development of capitalist productive forces and occupying a subordinate role in the international division of labor. Analysis of the Venezuelan auto policy during the Pérez administration (1974–79) shows the relations constituting socially defined actors and the structures underlying the policy bargaining process. It posits that in Venezuela there is a growing disjuncture between the internationally conditioned requirements of capital accumulation and the locally based demands of social reproduction; that the common interest of state and bourgeoisie in maintaining the rentier basis of the economy shapes the direction and extent of industrial development; and that circulation of petrodollars has absorbed production as a phase of circulation. The struggle between state and transnational corporations over local engine manufacture, and the tension between import substitution and export promotion, concealed an underlying conflict between rent appropriation and capital accumulation.