Publication

This paper highlights the institutions, actors and processes that have driven social policy provision and health care in Venezuela between 1936 and 2006. The author contends that the case of Venezuela demonstrates 1) the significant challenges involved in efforts to peacefully address the political roots of social inequality; and 2) the obstacles to improving access to health and social development posed by conservative opponents and vested interests, which in Venezuela included the trade union movement and nominally social democratic parties.