Suchergebnisse

Under conditions of weak statehood, societal actors are supposed to assume functions usually attributed to the state. Social self-organization is expected to emerge when the state leaves important social problems unattended. Should social self-organization, therefore, be regarded as a reaction to state weakness and as compensation for state failure in the provision of basic services? Does society organize itself on its own in areas where the state is absent or ineffective? By the example of two Latin American social movements, this article aims to show that social self-organization—at least on a larger scale—is not independent of the state, but rather a result of a dynamic interaction with the state. The two examples this article explores are the middle-class Venezuelan neighborhood movement and the Argentine piquetero movement of unemployed workers. Both movements emerged as reactions to the state's failure and retreat from essential social functions and both developed into extensive and influential social actors. For that reason, they can be regarded as crucial cases for observing the patterns and conditions of social self-organization and autonomous collective action within the specific Latin American context. Despite their different backgrounds and social bases, the two cases reveal remarkable similarities. They show that the emergence and development of self-organized social groups cannot be conceived simply as a reaction to state weakness, but rather should be viewed as a dynamic interaction with the state.

AbstractThe cognitive revolution has left its mark on institutional theory in sociology and political science. Cognitive structures – schemas, typifications, frames and ideas – are recognized as a crucial variable of social behavior, institutional development and collective action. However, while the assertion that "ideas matter" is widely shared, institutional theorists are still struggling with the question ofhowideas matter, especially in motivational terms. The role of ideas not just as switchmen, in Weber's terms, but as genuine drivers of collective action still lacks theoretical underpinning. This article aims at closing this gap. It elaborates a theoretical model to explain how ideas shift the structure of motivation from the individual to the collective level. Borrowing from motivational psychology and social philosophy, especially from the work of John Searle, two crucial mechanisms are explicated. The first one is imagination, a specific mental state that allows collectivizing the intentional structure of beliefs and affords a sense of self-efficacy in collective contexts. The second one is plural self-awareness, a mechanism that shifts intentions-in-action to the collective level.

The foundations of collective action and agency in large groups remain a challenging theoretical problem. Why are individuals willing to contribute to a common goal, even though their contribution may have little impact? This paper aims to answer this question by explicating the motivational mechanisms that facilitate collective action and elucidating the underlying conditions and processes using social movement mobilization as an example. The mechanisms responsible for modifying motivation and action orientations in large-scale collective action are explicated at the level of individual structures of intentionality and specified as imagination and plural self-awareness. These mechanisms create the mental prerequisites for collective action by modifying two crucial determinants of action orientations: self-efficacy and intentional control. Recurring to the case of the German environmental movement, we demonstrate that collective agency arises when a shared imaginary takes shape, and plural self-awareness gives way to common action orientations through the catalyzing effect of an external synchronizing stimulus.

O Uruguai se tornou o primeiro país a legalizar, em 2013, a produção e a comercialização de produtos derivados da cannabis. Esse passo significou não apenas um distanciamento em relação à estratégia nacional de política de drogas vigente há muitos anos, mas também um distanciamento frente às diretrizes para a política de combate às drogas definida em tratados internacionais. Em consequência disso, fala-se frequentemente em uma mudança de paradigmas na política de drogas uruguaia. O presente artigo busca elucidar em que medida essa concepção é adequada e se, de fato, é possível falar de mudança paradigmática no sentido oferecido pelo teórico da ciência Thomas Kuhn. O artigo evidencia que a política de legalização da cannabis no Uruguai, ainda que apresente uma mudança notável nos rumos da política anterior, não é ampla o suficiente para que se possa falar de fato de uma mudança paradigmática na política de drogas.

Las instituciones son consideradas en la mayoría de los casos como reglas y estructuras duraderas que cumplen cierta función social o económica. En contraste, este artículo describe una concepción de las instituciones como imaginaciones, que pone un énfasis particular en el potencial creativo inherente al desarrollo institucional. La centralidad de la imaginación, basada en el trabajo de Cornelius Castoriadis y John Searle, se expone tanto a nivel social como a nivel individual. Mientras Castoriadis proporciona una descripción de los imaginarios sociales en el nivel social, el trabajo de Searle sobre la mente y el lenguaje permite identificar la estructura complementaria de la intencionalidad en el nivel individual. Así, las instituciones se conciben como imaginarios sociales que son creados por grupos e individuos, compartidos y colectivizados a través de textos y símbolos y, en ciertos momentos de cambio institucional, son reapropiados y redefinidos por los actores sociales. El PT brasileño sirve como ejemplo para mostrar cómo un proceso de cambio institucional surgió de la imaginación. Antes de que se desarrollara la acción colectiva a finales de la década de 1970, las identidades y estrategias colectivas para la acción se habían preconfigurado en el nivel de la imaginación. Además, los fundamentos imaginativos del partido siguieron siendo relevantes incluso décadas después, lo que se hizo evidente en la crisis provocada por el llamado escándalo de Mensalão.

Am 11. April 2002 war die venezolanische Hauptstadt Caracas Schauplatz dramatischer Ereignisse, die zum Sturz der Regierung des umstrittenen Präsidenten Hugo Chávez führten. Über den Präsidenten und die Regierung Chávez schieden sich nicht nur innerhalb Venezuelas die Geister. Entsprechend unterschiedlich fielen auch die Reaktionen des Auslands auf die Eskalation der Krise in Venezuela aus. Besonders die Reaktionen Brasiliens und der USA offenbarten eine grundlegend unterschiedliche Sicht der Situation in Venezuela. Jeweils unter Berufung auf demokratische Prinzipien sympathisierten die USA offen mit der venezolanischen Opposition, während Brasilien sich hinter die Regierung Chávez stellte. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es zum einen, diese unterschiedlichen Perspektiven darzustellen und dabei besonders die divergierenden Interpretationen der Prinzipien Demokratie und Legitimität aufzuzeigen. Das Hauptaugenmerk gilt aber der Frage, wie diese unterschiedlichen Perspektiven zustande kamen. Es wird davon ausgegangen, dass die jeweilige Einschätzung der Lage in Venezuela durch die USA und Brasilien auf die grundsätzlichen außenpolitischen Orientierungen beider Staaten zurückzuführen war, als Ergebnis eines komplexen Faktorenbündels auf verschiedenen Ebenen.

Zunächst wird die Entwicklung der Ölförderung und der damit einher gehenden staatlichen Einnahmen dargestellt und in Beziehung zu Indikatoren von Ungleichheit und Exklusion gesetzt. Anschließend werden der Übergang Venezuelas zu einer paktierten Demokratie, deren Krise und der Aufstieg Chavez' und des von ihm etablierten Regimes, des Chavismo, in allgemeinen Zügen nachgezeichnet. Hierauf folgt eine Gegenüberstellung von Puntofijismo und Chavismo, um Funktionsweise und Defizite dieser beiden Regime aufzuzeigen. Abschließend wird die Frage nach den Auswirkungen von Öl und Exklusion auf die venezolanische Demokratie diskutiert. (ICE2)