Requiem for a Dream? Venezuela’s Crisis and the Future of the Latin American Left

• In Event: 552 - Section on Political Economy of the World-Systems Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03. From Above and From Below: Agency and Structure

Abstract

This paper examines the possibilities and limits of achieving radical change today, focusing on the case of Venezuela. The article examines the substantial achievements of Hugo Chávez's 'Bolivarian Revolution', which reduced poverty, unemployment and inequality. It also looks at the limitations and weakness of the 'Venezuelan model' in particular the country's extreme dependence on oil, highly centralized leadership and the contradictions of a political-economic model that combines aspects of capitalism, socialism and statism in an ad hoc rather than planned manner. These weaknesses have became more apparent with the recent fall in the price in oil, with the resulting economic crisis leading to the ruling party's defeat in the December 2015 parliamentary elections. The article concludes by assessing how this loss will affect the prospects of Chavismo losing power, and the potential regional implications this has.

Author

• Gabriel Hetland, University at Albany