Utopian disjunctures: Popular democracy and the communal state in urban Venezuela. (March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wilde, Matt
• Is Part Of: Critique of anthropology. Volume 37:Number 1(2017:Mar.)
• Page Start: 47
• Page End: 66
• Publication Date: 2017-03
• Subjects: Venezuela -- Bolivarian Revolution -- chavismo -- communal state -- anthropology of democracy -- post-neoliberalism -- utopia; Anthropology -- Periodicals; 301.205
• DOI: 10.1177/0308275X16671787
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0308-275X

Abstract

This article examines the Venezuelan government's efforts to establish a 'communal state' through the eyes of working-class chavista activists in the city of Valencia. It argues that the attempt to incorporate grassroots community organisations into a state-managed model of popular democracy produces a series of 'utopian disjunctures' for the actors involved. These disjunctures, the article contends, stem from conflicting political temporalities within the chavista project, as long-term aspirations of radical democracy clash with more short-term demands to obtain state resources and consolidate the government's power. The case highlights the tensions generated by efforts to reconcile radical democratic experiments with left-nationalist electoral politics.