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Copyright of Revista Telos is the property of Revista Telos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper offers an overview on the situation of centralized political power in Venezuela and on the necessary political action from civil society in order to recover an ideologically defined democratic society. A documentary research method was used in this study. Because of limitations of space and time, the analysis is based on a review of the relevant literature, including those considered appropriate to base the analysis. The findings are related with permanent efforts of civil society addressed to maintain the democracy, the elaboration and permanent change in the exercise of sovereignty, the existence of a marked tendency to centralize and the need for critical loyalty with the democratic system. Finally, it was specified the use of an antagonistic and exclusionary discourse from the current regime, a fact which is characteristic of their behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a theoretical-conceptual approach to civil society in the debate in Venezuela since the enactment of the Venezuelan Constitution of 1999 (CRBV, 1999). The term civil society is polysemic, complex and caters to di- fferent criteria, different ideas and different approaches, whether broad or restrictive, this depends on the author and the connotation of its own that is granted at the end, and the context in which is, but as the Soriano (1999), so there is no conceptual clarity. In response to the objectives proposed in this research, defines the concept from a brief reflection on the content and meaning of this category in the contemporary debate. Initially, it examines the theoretical and conceptual contemporary references general, then, is this particular theoretical approach to the discussion that is held to the inner in Venezuela by scholars of the subject and the formal legal treatment given to civil society in the 1999 Constitution, documents and interviews that are interpreted through hermeneutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the results of a broader study that made it possible to know the social representation (RS) of the object «civil society » in a sample of leaders and activists from Venezuelan civil associations. An SR is organized around contents and practices that are central, stable and shared by the group under study. Data comes from in-depth interviews with the members of 19 organizations. From this analysis, the progressive weakening of the political party system and the impoverishment of alternatives for political action and the exercise of influence emerge as a context for the recent development of civil organizations in Venezuela. In the SR of a civil society, stable contents appear: the image of a network and categories referring to the equilibrium between state and market, to construction of the social fabric, to control over the public sphere and the public policies and promotion of participation, commitment and civic responsibility. The pragmatic components of the SR appear to be coordinated by the notion of citizenship. These daily practices are oriented toward educating politically, improving the functioning of public institutions, fostering the development of independent, sustainable civil organizations, and promoting experiences regarding respect and negotiation, dialog and the non-violent resolution of conflicts. It concludes by pointing out the development of innovations in the public sphere and the persistence of a deep democratic impulse in Venezuelan society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ecos de la Comunicación is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Ciencias De Gobierno is the property of Instituto Zuliano de Estudios Politicos, Economicos y Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Cuadernos del CENDES is the property of Universidad Central de Venezuela and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the present global and local contexts of change and transformation on all levels, normally summed up by the idea of globalization, it is possible to appreciate two tendencies in the political and economic spheres: the emergence and operation of social and civic actors organized under the category of civic societies, within the framework of democratic processes and popular participation, together with the growth of social and productive activities developed mainly but not exclusively by popular and impoverished sectors, defined as informal economy. This paper, based on the network analysis or focus, and based methodologically on the review of academic literature generated around this topic, attempts to develop a thesis based on which civic society and the informal economy represent complex movements or forces in the societal network for the purpose of approaching or distancing itself from public or state management, the discretion-ality of which is weakened on the global plane by a crisis in the welfare state, and on the national level by the complexity of the political, social and economic situation in Venezuela. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]