Hegemony Versus Globalization: Protest, Repression and the Struggle for Power in Post-Chávez Venezuela

• In Event: 336 - Section on Political Sociology Paper Session. Citizenship and Protest in the 21st Century: #Blacklivesmatter and Other Recent Movements in Context

Abstract

In the tenuous three years since Nicolás Maduro has been president in Venezuela, street protest emerged as one of the main media of struggle for political power. Convinced that the electoral system was rigged in favor of Chavismo, radical opposition groups became convinced in 2013 and 2014 that street protest would be the most effective means of unseating the government. On the one hand, it was the one mechanism that opposition had at its disposal. On the other, it had the potential for putting the Maduro government’s democratic credentials to the test. If the Maduro government violently suppressed protest, the opposition could make it incumbent upon the international community to intervene in Venezuela. In 2014 the #lasalida movement engaged in often violent protests that drew violence from the government and raised serious international concern. The strategy was somewhat successful as it brought the Unites States to bring sanctions against selected Venezuela leaders. The Maduro government, for its part, progressively criminalized protest through violence, arbitrary detention and laws allowing the armed forces to police protest. The Venezuela case is part of a larger phenomenon in which middle classes use protests and international human rights networks, against elected leaders in sovereignty-hardening countries. Other cases are Ukraine, Turkey and Brazil. We will portray it as one case of the struggle between leftist, nationalist or illiberal “sovereignty-hardening” states and the globalized, media-savy middle and upper-middle classes that oppose them.

Authors

• David A. Smilde, Tulane University

• Jennifer Elise Triplett, University of Michigan