Resumen

UHARTE POZAS, Luis Miguel. Social Policy and Democracy: A ‘New’ Paradigm. Revista Venezolana de Economía y Ciencias Sociales [online]. 2005, vol.11, n.3, pp.93-114. ISSN 20030507.

This article is presented as a proposal for the orientation of social policies in Latin America. It is divided into four sections: the first explains the relationship between social policy, the socio-economic order, the development model and the different types of democracy, while presenting the general outlines of the social policy paradigm considered most appropriate for furthering democracy; the second section explains the type of democracy considered desirable and the type of social policy it implies; the third section examines the predominant social policy paradigms that have characterized the development of the capitalist system and their limitations; and, finally, the author analyzes the different dimension of any social policy paradigm, developing a criticism of those paradigms that have previously prevailed and outlining his alternative proposal.

Palabras clave : Social Policy; Paradigms; Democracy; Capitalism; Latin America.