Resumo

ACEVES GONZALEZ, Francisco. Factual Powers, Communication and Governance: a Conceptual Approach. Rev. mex. cienc. polít. soc [online]. 2013, vol.58, n.217, pp.269-280. ISSN 0185-1918.

The category of factual powers has become a fashionable term. Beyond observable differences in the journalistic, academic or political in terests of the scholarly approaches to the topic, the author considers that it is possible to affirm that this question is inextricably related to the issue of democracy, and specifically its viability and governability. This article is framed within this analytic and contextual perspective -factual powers, democracy and governability. Given that the category has not a univocal meaning, af ter drawing basic differences among the various interest groups, pressure groups and factual powers, it characterizes those emerging social actors capable to dispute the power of formal institutions and analyzes the particular composition of the mass media.

Palavras-chave : factual powers; interest groups; pressure groups; mass media; democracy; governance.