Hugo Chavez and the Death of Democracy in Venezuela

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Venezuela, located in the Latin American region, is a country that has been characterized by its abundance of oil reserve. A natural resource that has shaped the history and development of the country, affecting its economic, social and most important is political spheres. For many years Venezuela was controlled by authoritarian regimes. The country, being very important in the sense of geo-politics due to its abundance of oil, has been a key player in the international arena and most important, to those that for many years kept the country under their regime. It was not until 1958 that Venezuela experienced the change to democracy and a stable democracy was kept between the two main political parties of the time, Accion Democratica (AD) and Christian Democrats (COPEI). These two parties were responsible for the country, and for many years both of them balanced their power in order to govern the country and keep it stable. It was until the 1990’s that this situation changed. As other countries in Latin American experienced, the levels of corruption and lack of accountability towards the population, made possible that in 1998 Hugo Chavez Frias was elected president of Venezuela. Chavez taking power in 1998, and showing to the masses as a “Savior” has completely revolutionized the country and some argues that he has been successful on establishing what is known as competitive authoritarian regime. His actions through out the many years he has been the president of Venezuela and the impacts on the country’s economic, political and social spheres, has made many critics to analyze and think on the question of whether or not Chavez has increase or decrease democracy? Analyzing how he has changed Venezuela’s political structure and how ...

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...rales, Javier. "Hugo Boss." Foreign Policy. 152 (2006): 32-40. Print. .

Corrales, Javier. "A Setback For Chavez." Journal of Democracy 1st ser. 22 (2011): 122-36. Print.

Corrales, Javier. "Venezuela:Crowding Out the Opposition." Journal of Democracy,Volume 18, Number 2. 18.2 (2007): 99-113. Print.

Hidalgo, Manuel. "Hugo Chavez's "Petro-Socialism"." Journal of Democracy, Vol. 20. Number 2. 20.2 (2009): 78-92. Print.< http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jod/summary/v020/20.2hidalgo.htlm>

McCoy, Jennifer. "One Act in an Unfinished Drama." Journal of Democracy, Vol.16, Number 1. 16.1 (2005): 109-123. Print.< http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jod/summary/v016/16.1maccoy.htlm>

Arraras, April 22, 2012, Module 8 Professor power point presentation.

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