Political regime, logics of power and state capacities in Venezuela

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

Abstract

The specialized literature agrees that during the last 20 years, Venezuela has been consolidating an increasingly authoritarian regime, a circumstance that has also been accompanied by the growth of the volume and functions of the State. However, Venezuela is increasingly considered a fragile or failed state, a tangible circumstance in a serious humanitarian crisis. This gives rise to several questions: What type of regime governs the country? What are the logics of power that characterize it? What is the real situation of the capacities of the State? And above all: To what extent does the relationship between these three factors allow us to understand the current situation and its possible courses of action in the near future? In the present paper certain criteria are developed to study the relationship of these three factors and some preliminary inferences are established in this regard.

Author

• Miguel Angel Martínez Meucci, Universidad Austral de Chile