Associated Readings
- Steve Ellner, “Venezuela: A ‘model’ democracy in crisis,” in Latin America: Its Problems and Its Promise, pp. 399-412 (2011)
- Cristobal Valencia Ramirez, “Venezuela in the eye of the hurricane: Landing an analysis of the Bolivarian revolution,” pp. 173-186 (2006)
- -- “Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution: Who are the Chavistas?” from Venezuela: Hugo Chavez and the Decline of an ‘Exceptional Democracy’, pp. 121-139 (2007)
- Naomi Schiller, “Framing the revolution: Circulation and meaning of ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’” Mass Communication and Society 12, pp. 478-502 (2009)
- Steve Ellner, “Chavez pushes the limits: Radicalization and discontent in Venezuela,” NACLA Report on the Americas, pp. 9-12 (2010)
- Handout 5 ("Populism")
Venezuela, which shares borders with Colombia, Brazil, and Guyana, lies along the Caribbean Sea. Between the Andes Mountains in the northwest and the Guiana Highlands in the southeast lie central plains as well as a coastal region, with the country's climate varying from tropical to temperate.
Most U.S. citizens don’t know much about Venezuela. If they do, they may have heard about its current--and very controversial--president, Hugo Chavez, who we’ll discuss at length below. Or, they might have heard on Simón Bolívar, a Venezuelan military and political leader who led multiple struggles in Latin America for independence from the Spanish Empire during the 19th century. And then there are the beauty pageants...In international competitions such as the Miss Universe competition, Venezuela continues to produce winners. Finally, many of you might buy gas at Citgo, which is owned by a major Venezuelan oil producer.
Colonial Past and Recent Political History
The Spanish established the first permanent settlement in Venezuela in 1522, but until the 1700s the colony remained largely undeveloped. Venezuela then became an important world producer of cacao, and Caracas emerged as a center of commerce. After several military battles with Spain under the leadership of Simón Bolívar, Venezuela declared independence in 1821. In 1830 the fledgling nation withdrew from its association with Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador in the Republic of Gran Colombia to become fully autonomous.
Throughout the nineteenth century Venezuela experienced many political upheavals. A series of authoritarian governments in the twentieth century brought more stability, with petroleum exports fueling economic expansion. In 1958 a two-party democratic system was introduced, but an economic crisis in the 1980s brought renewed unrest. In 1998 Hugo Chávez, who had been jailed six years earlier for his part in an unsuccessful coup, was elected president. I’ll have much more to say about this below.
Ethnicity and Cultural Practices
As is typical in Latin America, Spanish, native/indigenous, and African heritages have all contributed to Venezuelan life and culture, including language, art, food, and music. About half of today’s population is of mixed ethnic heritage, that is, mestizo or mulatto. About 85% of the national population (about 27 million as of 2011) live in urban areas in the northern portion of the country and currently resides in large cities such as the capital Caracas, cities that are concentrated in Venezuela's northern coastal mountain strip. Both life expectancy (73.9 years) and literacy rates (95.1%) are high. The vast majority (96%) of Venezuelans identify as Catholics, although many practice other forms of Christianity (for example, Evangelicals).
According to the World Refugee Survey 2008, published by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Venezuela hosted a population of refugee and asylum seekers from Colombia numbering 252,200 in 2007. 10,600 new asylum seekers entered Venezuela in 2007. Between 500,000 and one million illegal immigrants are estimated to be living in the Venezuela.
II. Understanding Chavez and Chavismo
In your readings from Week 1, you've already had an introduction to Venezuela's current president, Hugo Chavez. As you may remember, Chavez became president after many years as a career military officer. During the 1980s, he increasingly opposed the government (and the Venezuelan political system more generally) which he found corrupt and undemocratic. In 1992 he led an unsuccessful coup attempt, out of opposition to massive social spending cuts which had recently been made by the government in its structural adjustment initiatives. After two years, Chavez was released from prison and by 1998 had achieved popularity sufficient to get him elected president. An opposition movement attempted to remove him from power both through an unsuccessful military coup in 2002 and a recall referendum in 2003. The 2002 coup is the subject of the film you will watch during Week 4 (“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”). Chavez has been accused of manipulating the electoral process and instituting constitutional changes, including the end of presidential term limits, to retain power.
As president, Chavez has undertaken a massive social project known as the Bolivarian Revolution, named after Venezuela’s most famous historical figure, Simón Bolívar. Following an ideology he and his followers call “Bolivarianism” and “Socialism for the 21st century,” his Bolivarian Revolution has entailed the implementation of a new constitution, the formation of new forms of participatory democracy (more on this below), and the nationalization of several key industries (most notably, the oil industry). Chavez loyalists are known as Chavistas. (The second reading by Cristobal Valencia Ramirez focuses on what sorts of people identify as Chavistas.) If you have any friends from Venezuela, you will find out very quickly if they are Chavistas or not, as most Venezuelans have very strong feelings about this man!
A vocal critic of capitalism and in particular neoliberalism, Chávez has been a prominent opponent of the United States' foreign policy, which he describes as imperialistic. Allying himself strongly with the socialist governments of Fidel and then Raúl Castro in Cuba, Evo Morales in Bolivia, and Rafael Correa in Ecuador, his presidency is seen as a part of the leftist "pink tide" sweeping Latin America.
Advocating forms of direct, participatory democracy (rather than representative democracy), Chavez has introduced a variety of initiatives which get ordinary citizens involved in decision-making around local resources. These initiatives include the Bolivarian Missions, the Communal Councils, and worker-managed cooperatives. Funded from oil revenue, the Bolivarian missions aimed at expanding public services through the construction of free medical clinics, implementing educational programs to increase literacy, and administering food and housing subsidies to poor people.
I have prepared an hour-long video for you to watch called “Journey with the Revolution” (“Videos” tab on BB). As you will see, this film portrays the Bolivarian Revolution in glowing terms, showing multiple sectors of society who have become inspired by Chavez and for the first time in their lives have engaged in civic participation. This film lasts about an hour. Now is a good time to watch it.
III. U.S. Perception of Chavez
To say relations between the U.S. government and Hugo Chavez are strained is an understatement. In the eyes of mainstream politicians in the U.S., both democrat and republican, Chavez has been (and remains) perceived of as an irritating troublemaker at best and a dangerous, undemocratic populist with ties to terrorist regimes elsewhere in the world. (See more on populism below.)
Watch Chavez's 2006 speech at the United Nations:
Now, a clip from his weekly TV broadcast, also from 2006, in which Chavez taunts President George W. Bush further:
Finally, here's Barbara Walters interviewing Chavez on ABC in 2007:
Chavez met U.S. President Barack Obama for the first time at the Summit of the Americas in 2009, where Chávez expressed a desire for better relations between the two countries. However, the Venezuelan president regularly engages in anti-American rhetoric, and relations continue to be strained.
Please watch "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" at this point, if you haven't already.
IV. Understanding the Appeal of Chavez
How do we account for the massive popularity of Hugo Chavez among Venezuela’s poor? Certainly, poor people have welcomed Chavez’s use of oil revenues to fund social services such as health clinics and schools. But these material benefits alone are not sufficient to capture the distinctive appeal of this man’s style of leadership. To help better understand this, we’ll use a concept from political science (the IR majors among you are probably already familiar with it)--populism. While populist leaders aren’t limited to Latin America, some of the most well-known and heavily-studied populists have been from this part of the world. (The discussion below corresponds closely to the “populism” handout available under “Course Documents” in Bb.)
Let’s define populism as a style of leadership “characteristically involving a proclaimed rapport with ‘the people’, a ‘them-and-us’ mentality, and (often, though not necessarily) a period of crisis and mobilization” (Alan Knight, 1998).
Populist leadership is typically based on personal charisma and skills as an orator--leaders who know how to give a stirring and inspiring speech. Think of Chavez’s “You are a donkey, Mr. Danger!” performance from his weekly radio program (clip above).
Populist leaders seek a direct bond with their mass following. They lead personal movements rather than well-organized parties. Again, Chavez is a good examples: If you take him out of the "Bolivarian revolution," there would be nothing left.
Populism relies on mass mobilization--getting their followers out into the streets.
Populist leaders often have military backgrounds. Part of their appeal is that of the military caudillo, or strongman, who promises to deliver justice for the "people" by firm measures against the "exploiters"
When used to describe a leader, the term “populist” almost always has negative connotations. (Typically, it’s used to describe a politician who seeks popularity through appealing to the baser instincts of voters.) Historically, it is in Latin America where populism has had the greatest and most enduring influence. Its heyday was from the 1920s to the 1960s, as industrialization and the growth of cities got under way in the region. Against this backdrop, populism was the means by which the urban masses--the middle and working classes--were brought into the political system.
As you get a grasp on the concept of populism, resist the temptation to decide whether it is ultimately "good" or "bad." At the end of the day, populist leadership is deeply contradictory: On the one hand, it does focus attention on poor people rather than elites, but it can also create new elites. And, whether populism is good for democracy (think of Dahl's criteria, for example) is highly contested among academics. To deepen your understanding of debates around populism, familiarize yourself with Cristobal Valencia Ramirez discussion about "populist analysis" in the first of his assigned articles.
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