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Agrarian Change and the Conflicted Venezuelan State

Sat, August 16, 2:30 to 4:10pm, TBA

Abstract

Can radical political-economic transformation be achieved by electoral regimes that have not thoroughly reconstructed the state? Contemporary Venezuela offers an optimal venue for examining this question. Chavismo did not replace the previous state, as was the case for radical non-electoral regimes. Instead, it attempted to reform existing state entities and established new ones in pursuit of its transformation agenda. Chavismo has also used its oil wealth to support cooperatively-oriented economic activity, without necessarily expropriating economic property. Thus, the transformation-oriented political economy exists alongside the traditional one. Focusing on agrarian transformation — a central goal of Chavismo during the past decade — we examine how these factors have impacted the state’s capacity to attain its goal of national food sovereignty. Based on ethnographic research in the country’s most important grain-producing region, we find that the state’s ability to accomplish this objective has been compromised by lack of agency-level capacity, inter-agency conflict, and the persistence of the previously-extant agrarian property structure. These dynamics have influenced the state to shift from its initial objective of food sovereignty to a policy of nationalist food security.

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