Política, protagonismo y rendición de cuentas en la Venezuela bolivariana

the article introduces this special edition of the revista venezolana de economía y ciencias sociales. the authors outline the main themes and issues raised in the papers presented at the 2007 latin american studies association conference in toronto, which are reproduced here. they draw attention to the innovative nature of the qualitative research that is presented, the importance of the insights produced by the authors？ solid field work and the bottom-up, grassroots perspective common to these essays. the authors explore the transformative nature of the bolivarian project, drawing attention to both the opportunities presented by the new participatory processes, and also to the limitations.