The Consolidation of Authoritarian Rule in Venezuela: A Conceptual and Empirical Assessment

Session Submission Type: LASA Section Panel

Abstract

How do authoritarian rulers consolidate power? This question is relevant to understand Venezuela’s transition to authoritarian rule in the past two decades, and more recently towards full dictatorship under Nicolás Maduro. This panel looks at key decisions made by the regime to co-opt allies, preserve legitimacy, manage (and repress) the opposition and fulfil governance tasks. In addition to contributing to ongoing theoretical debates, this panel empirically assesses: How the regime interacts with international allies; How it manages opposition actors through dialogue; How key political economy decisions help to govern, co-opt and repress; and discuss the military’s role in this process.

Sub Track

• Section Sessions

Session Organizer

• Raul A Sanchez Urribarri, La Trobe University

Chairs

• Raul A Sanchez Urribarri, La Trobe University

• Maryhen G Jiménez Morales, University of Oxford

Discussant

• Verónica Zubillaga, Universidad Simón Bolívar

Individual Presentations

• Political regime, logics of power and state capacities in Venezuela - Miguel Angel Martínez Meucci, Universidad Austral de Chile

• Régimen Híbrido y Apaciguamiento. El Aprovechamiento de los Mecanismos Alternativos de Diálogo y Negociación para el Tránsito hacia el Autoritarismo en Venezuela - Francisco Alfaro Pareja, Universidad Simón Bolívar

• La Renta y el “Distribucionismo” como Instrumentos de Avance hacia el Autoritarismo: La Construcción del Régimen Económico Venezolano. - Leonardo Vera

• Respuesta Internacional a La Consolidación del Autoritarismo en Venezuela - Adriana Boersner, University of Missouri