A atividade petroleira constitui, desde as primeiras décadas do século XX, o cerne da vida econômica da Venezuela contemporânea. A importância que essa atividade veio adquirindo desde então foi tal que todas as principais decisões de política econômica nacional lhe dizem respeito, e representam inevitavelmente consequências de monta para o conjunto da sociedade venezuelana. Este estudo adota como ponto de partida uma reflexão crítica sobre a natureza e o alcance histórico das mudanças sociais e políticas que ocorrem atualmente no continente latino-americano, ou seja, sobretudo a ascensão dos governos progressistas (dentre eles, destacadamente, o bolivarianismo chavista), cujo maior desafio hoje encontra-se no confronto real entre as oportunidades de autonomização econômica (reconhecidas e proclamadas pelo discurso político progressista) e, em sentido contrário, as forças de perpetuação da dependência estrutural e do subdesenvolvimento, nas condições inerentes ao capitalismo dependente da região. Em seguida, o estudo detém-se em descrever o período da história venezuelana delimitado pelos anos de 1973 e 1998, interregno no qual uma questão essencial residiu no dilema entre a conquista da soberania econômica (condição necessária da democracia social) e a sujeição aos interesses imperialistas do grande capital estrangeiro, representados pelas empresas petrolíferas instaladas no país. As formas concretas que assumiu a nacionalização da indústria petroleira nos anos 1970, o modo de participação que daí resultou dessas empresas estrangeiras na exploração petrolífera durante as décadas de 1980 e 1990 quando paulatinamente a política oficial foi-se orientando pelas prescrições do neoliberalismo (materializadas na assim chamada Abertura Petroleira) e os desdobramentos sociais (sob a forma de conflitos de classe) dessas decisões econômicas compõem o cenário histórico venezuelano aqui estudado, o qual, ao final do século, expunha a crise do modelo rentista adotado e a dissolução das alianças políticas tradicionais crise que, por fim, deu ensejo à vitória político-eleitoral do partido chavista, em dezembro de 1998, ponto inicial do progressismo de hoje. / Oil activity constitutes, since the first decades of 20th century, the core of contemporary Venezuelan economy. The importance this activity has acquired since then was such that all the main decisions of the national economic policy concern it, and inevitably represent far-reaching consequences for the Venezuelan society. This study starts from a critical reflection on the nature and historical scope of social and political changes that occur in Latin America, i.e., the rise of progressive governments (among them, markedly, Chavist Bolivarianism), whose main challenge today is the actual confrontation between opportunities of economic autonomization (recognized and proclaimed by the progressist political discourse) and, conversely, forces of perpetuation of structural dependence and underdevelopment, in the inherent conditions in the regions dependent capitalism. Then, the study will describe the Venezuelan history from 1973 to 1998, interregnum in which an essential issue was in the dilemma between the achievement of economic sovereignty (social democracy necessary condition) and the subjection to imperialist interests of great foreign capital, represented by oil companies established in the country. The concrete forms the oil industry nationalization took form in the 1970s, the way of participation which resulted from those foreign companies in the oil exploration in the 1980s and 1990s when gradually the official policy was guided by neoliberalism prescriptions (materialized in the Oil Opening Policy) and the social unfoldings (in the form of class conflicts) of those economic decisions make up the Venezuelan historical setting studied here, which, at the end of the century, exposed the adopted rentist model crisis and the dissolution of traditional political alliances a crisis which eventually gave opportunity to Chavist party political-electoral victory, in December 1998, point of departure of the present-day progressivism .

A atividade petroleira constitui, desde as primeiras décadas do século XX, o cerne da vida econômica da Venezuela contemporânea. A importância que essa atividade veio adquirindo desde então foi tal que todas as principais decisões de política econômica nacional lhe dizem respeito, e representam inevitavelmente consequências de monta para o conjunto da sociedade venezuelana. Este estudo adota como ponto de partida uma reflexão crítica sobre a natureza e o alcance histórico das mudanças sociais e políticas que ocorrem atualmente no continente latino-americano, ou seja, sobretudo a ascensão dos governos progressistas (dentre eles, destacadamente, o bolivarianismo chavista), cujo maior desafio hoje encontra-se no confronto real entre as oportunidades de autonomização econômica (reconhecidas e proclamadas pelo discurso político progressista) e, em sentido contrário, as forças de perpetuação da dependência estrutural e do subdesenvolvimento, nas condições inerentes ao capitalismo dependente da região. Em seguida, o estudo detém-se em descrever o período da história venezuelana delimitado pelos anos de 1973 e 1998, interregno no qual uma questão essencial residiu no dilema entre a conquista da soberania econômica (condição necessária da democracia social) e a sujeição aos interesses imperialistas do grande capital estrangeiro, representados pelas empresas petrolíferas instaladas no país. As formas concretas que assumiu a nacionalização da indústria petroleira nos anos 1970, o modo de participação que daí resultou dessas empresas estrangeiras na exploração petrolífera durante as décadas de 1980 e 1990 quando paulatinamente a política oficial foi-se orientando pelas prescrições do neoliberalismo (materializadas na assim chamada Abertura Petroleira) e os desdobramentos sociais (sob a forma de conflitos de classe) dessas decisões econômicas compõem o cenário histórico venezuelano aqui estudado, o qual, ao final do século, expunha a crise do modelo rentista adotado e a dissolução das alianças políticas tradicionais crise que, por fim, deu ensejo à vitória político-eleitoral do partido chavista, em dezembro de 1998, ponto inicial do progressismo de hoje. / Oil activity constitutes, since the first decades of 20th century, the core of contemporary Venezuelan economy. The importance this activity has acquired since then was such that all the main decisions of the national economic policy concern it, and inevitably represent far-reaching consequences for the Venezuelan society. This study starts from a critical reflection on the nature and historical scope of social and political changes that occur in Latin America, i.e., the rise of progressive governments (among them, markedly, Chavist Bolivarianism), whose main challenge today is the actual confrontation between opportunities of economic autonomization (recognized and proclaimed by the progressist political discourse) and, conversely, forces of perpetuation of structural dependence and underdevelopment, in the inherent conditions in the regions dependent capitalism. Then, the study will describe the Venezuelan history from 1973 to 1998, interregnum in which an essential issue was in the dilemma between the achievement of economic sovereignty (social democracy necessary condition) and the subjection to imperialist interests of great foreign capital, represented by oil companies established in the country. The concrete forms the oil industry nationalization took form in the 1970s, the way of participation which resulted from those foreign companies in the oil exploration in the 1980s and 1990s when gradually the official policy was guided by neoliberalism prescriptions (materialized in the Oil Opening Policy) and the social unfoldings (in the form of class conflicts) of those economic decisions make up the Venezuelan historical setting studied here, which, at the end of the century, exposed the adopted rentist model crisis and the dissolution of traditional political alliances a crisis which eventually gave opportunity to Chavist party political-electoral victory, in December 1998, point of departure of the present-day progressivism .

The thesis looks into the under-researched phenomenon of ‘stasis’ that can be observed in many emerging tourist destinations in the world. Stasis—defined here as non-growth—has been essentially addressed in the tourism literature from the perspective of operational constraints. However, in this thesis it is argued that such an approach neglects to consider these constraints as outcomes of deeply sedimented and chronically reproduced structural properties. In other words, the study attempts to gain an understanding of why operational constraints fail to receive response in destinations experiencing stasis. With its focus on stasis rather than on change, the study adopts an innovative approach to tourism development, intending in this way to add to destination development theories.Accordingly, the examination of the research problem is integrated into the general reflection on the development of tourist areas, composing the theoretical background of the study. Moreover, two important methodological decisions are made with the aim to better grasp the dynamics of tourism development within stasis. A first decision is to dissociate the quantitative aspects of destination development from the qualitative ones, introducing two distinctive constructs named destination growth and destination shaping. A second decision is to address the research question from a strategic relational approach to structure and agency. The use of a structure-agency approach is decisive in appraising the extent to which structural constraints affect tourism stakeholders’ actions. The phenomenon is explored empirically from a critical theory perspective and a qualitative approach based on a single case study. The case under scrutiny is Gabon, a politically stable destination with acknowledged tourism assets and a tourism strategy adopted in the past decade. Gabon is examined essentially for its function as internal leisure travel destination. The analysis thus includes both domestic and international tourism, but limits itself to leisure travel. The study results indicate that, in the case of Gabon, structural properties and their rigidity explained a great deal of operational constraints and their continuity over time. However, and while structural properties adversely affect destination development, including growth, tourism initiatives are still able to emerge. These tourism initiatives are varied in that they are undertaken by different types of actors, they have different goals and take different forms. Yet, very few of these tourism stakeholders are in a position to modify the country’s structural properties due to a high centrality of social control. In such context, destination growth is primarily determined by the vested interest of a small circle of agents with social power. In conclusion, a country’s structural properties need to be regarded as spatialized and temporalized tendencies having a selective effect on actors but cannot fully explain action, hence destination development. In turn, action is intended—and strategic—but results do not necessarily match initial intentions. This implies that tourism development cannot be apprehended through the sole actions of tourism stakeholders, but need a combined analysis of the interrelationships between structure and agency. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished