Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:42:22.697Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Democratizing the Democracy? Crisis and Reform in Venezuela

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Brian F. Crisp  and
Daniel H. Levine
Brian F. Crisp
Affiliation:
University of Arizona
Daniel H. Levine
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Venezuelan politics presents a puzzle to students of Latin America, and to anyone concerned with the comparative analysis of democratization and democracy. As the major countries of Latin America (and the majority of scholars) worked their way from authoritarianism through “transitions”to democracy and hopefully toward democracy’s consolidation, Venezuela moved in the opposite direction. After decades of political stability and social peace, beginning in 1987 Venezuela’s democratic order was shaken by widespread unrest and citizen disaffection, the decay of key parties and state institutions, attempted coups, and the impeachment and removal of the president in 1993.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , Summer 1998 , pp. 27 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alvarez, Angel. 1998. Venezulean Local and National Elections, 1958–1995. In Urban Democratic Elections in Latin America, ed. Henry, A. Dietz and Gil, Shidlo. Wilmington : SR Books. 239–74.Google Scholar
Ames, Barry. 1995. Electoral Rules, Constituency Pressures, and Pork Barrel: Bases of Voting in the Brazilian Congress. Journal of Politics 57: 324–43.Google Scholar
Baptista, Asdrúbal. 1985. Mas allá del optimismo y del pesimismo: las transformaciones fundamentales del país. In El caso Venezuela. Una ilusión de armonía, ed. Moises, Naím and Ramón, Piñango. Caracas : Ediciones IESA. 20–41.Google Scholar
Baptista, Asdrúbal. 1995. “Crisis en Venezuela? Elementos para ayudar a entender los tiempos del país. Economía Hoy (Caracas), 30 May [Special edition on La Crisis].Google Scholar
Brewer-Carias, Allan R. 1976. La distinción entre las personas públicas y las personas privadas y el sentido de la problemática actual de la clasificación de los sujetos de derecho. Revista de la Facultad de Derecho (Universidad Central de Venezuela) 57 (April): 115–35.Google Scholar
Brewer-Carias, Allan R. 1980. Régimen jurídico de las empresas públicas en Venezuela. Caracas : Centro Latinoamericano de Administración para el Desarrollo.Google Scholar
Caballero, Manuel. 1988. Las Venezuelas del siglo veinte. Caracas : Grijalbo.Google Scholar
Caballero Ortiz, Jesús. 1982. Las empresas públicas en el derecho venezolano. Caracas : Editorial Jurídica Venezolana.Google Scholar
Caballero Ortiz, Jesús. 1984. Los institutos autónomos. Caracas : Fondo de Inversiones de Venezuela.Google Scholar
Carey, John M., and Matthew Soberg, Shugart. 1995. Incentives to Cultivate a Personal Vote: a Rank Ordering of Electoral Formulas. Electoral Studies 14, 4:417–39.Google Scholar
Cavarozzi, Marcelo. 1992. Beyond Transitions to Democracy in Latin America. Journal of Latin American Studies 24, 3 (October): 665–84.Google Scholar
Cohen, Jean, and Andrew, Arato. 1992. Civil Society and Political Theory. Cambridge : MIT Press.Google Scholar
Collier, David, and Ruth Berins, Collier. 1991. Shaping the Political Arena: Critical Junctures, the Labor Movement, and Regime Dynamics in Latin America. Princeton : Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Consejo Supremo Electoral (CSE). 1991. Primer informe: la democracia y sus instituciones. Estudio de opinión pública. CSEDEMOCRACIA 91. Caracas : Consejo Supremo Electoral, Dirección de Estadísticas y Encuestas.Google Scholar
Coppedge, Michael. 1994. Strong Parties and Lame Ducks: Presidential Partyarchy and Factionalism in Venezuela. Stanford : Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Coronel, Gustavo. 1990. Venezuela. La agonía del subdesarrollo. Caracas : G. Coronel.Google Scholar
Crisp, Brian F. 1996. Institutional Design and the Crisis of Democracy in Venezuela. Paper presented at the conference Compromised Legitimacy? Assessing the Crisis of Democracy in Venezuela. Caracas, 9–10 May.Google Scholar
Crisp, Brian F. 1997a. El control institucional de la participación en la democracia venezolana. Caracas : Editorial Jurídica Venezolana.Google Scholar
Crisp, Brian F. 1997b. Presidential Behavior in a System with Strong Parties. In Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America, ed. Scott, Mainwaring and Matthew, Shugart. New York : Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Crisp, Brian F., Daniel, H. Levine, and Juan Carlos, Rey, 1995. The Legitimacy Problem. In Venezuelan Democracy Under Stress, ed. Jennifer, McCoy, Andrés, Serbín, William, C. Smith, and Andrés, Stambouli. New Brunswick : Transaction. 139–70.Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert A. 1971. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven : Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Diamond, Larry, Juan, J. Linz, and Seymour Martin, Lipset. 1989. Democracy in Developing Countries. Volume 4, Latin America. Boulder : Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Eckstein, Susan, ed. 1989. Power and Popular Protest: Latin Ameiican Social Movements. Berkeley : University of California Press.Google Scholar
Escobar, Arturo, and Sonia, Alvarez, eds. 1992. The Making of Social Movements in Latin America: Identity, Strategy, and Democracy. Boulder : Westview Press.Google Scholar
Ellner, Steve. 199394. The Deepening of Democracy in a Crisis Setting: Political Reform and the Electoral Process in Venezuela. Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 35, 4 (Winter): 1–42.Google Scholar
Fox, Jonathan. 1996. How Does Civil Society Thicken? the Political Construction of Social Capital in Rural Mexico. World Development 24, 6: 1089–1103.Google Scholar
Freije, Samuel. 1995. “Esa olla está muy caliente! El impacto social de las crisis y los ajustes. Debates IESA, no. 5: 10–16.Google Scholar
Geigel Lope-Bello, Nelson. 1979. La defensa de la ciudad. Caracas : Instituto de Estudios Regionales y Urbanos, Universidad Simón Bolívar.Google Scholar
Gómez Calcaño, Luis. 1987. Los movimientos sociales: democracia emergente en el sistema político venezolano. In Venezuela hacia el año 2000. Desafios y opciones, ed. Silva Michelena, J. A.. Caracas : Editorial Nueva Sociedad-ILDIS. 337–67.Google Scholar
Gómez Calcaño, Luis. 1996. Organizaciones sociales autónomas y reconstrucción de la legitimidad democrática en Venezuela, 1992–1996. Paper presented at the symposium La crisis de legitimidad de la democracia en Venezuela, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, May.Google Scholar
Grupo, Roraima, 1987. Más y mejor democracia. Caracas : Cromotip.Google Scholar
Haggard, Stephan, and Robert, R. Kaufman. 1995. The Political Economy of Democratic Transitions. Princeton : Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hanes de Acevedo, Rexene. 1991. El control político en tiempos de crisis: estudio del caso de una asociación de vecinos en Venezuela. Caracas : Ediciones IESA.Google Scholar
Hellinger, Daniel. 1991. Venezuela: Tarnished Democracy. Boulder : Westview Press.Google Scholar
Hellman, Judith Adler. 1992. The Study of New Social Movements in Latin America and the Question of Autonomy. In The Making of Social Movements in Latin America: Identity, Strategy, and Democracy, ed. Arturo, Escobar and Sonia, Alvarez. Boulder : Westview Press.Google Scholar
Hillman, Richard S. 1994. Democracy for the Privileged: Crisis and Transition in Venezuela. Boulder : Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA). 1995. Todo lo que usted quería saber sobre… elecciones regionales y locales 1995. Debates IESA No. 3. Caracas : IESA.Google Scholar
Karl, Terry Lynn. 1987. Petroleum and Political Pacts: the Transition to Democracy in Venezuela. Latin American Research Review 22, 1: 63–94.Google Scholar
Karl, Terry Lynn. 1995. The Venezuelan Petro-State and the Crisis of “Its” Democracy. In Venezuelan Democracy Under Stress, ed. Jennifer, McCoy, Andrés, Serbín, William, C. Smith, and Andrés, Stambouli. New Brunswick : Transaction. 33–55.Google Scholar
Kohli, Atul. 1990. Democracy and Discontent: India's Growing Crisis of Governability. New York : Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kornblith, Miriam. 1995. Elecciones 95: Nuevos actores, reglas y oportunidades. Debates IESA no. 3. Caracas : IESA. 3–7.Google Scholar
Kornblith, Miriam, and Daniel, H. Levine. 1995. Venezuela: The Life and Times of the Party System. In Building Democratic Institutions: Parties and Party Systems in Latin America, ed. Scott, Mainwaring and Timothy, Scully. Stanford : Stanford University Press. 37–71.Google Scholar
Kornblith, Miriam, and Thais, Maingón. 1985. Estado y gasto público en Venezuela. Caracas : Universidad Central de Venezuela.Google Scholar
Kulisheck, Michael. 1996. Placebo or Potent Medicine? Electoral Reform and Political Behavior in Venezuela. Paper presented at the conference Compromised Legitimacy? Assessing the Crisis of Democracy in Venezuela. Caracas, 9–10 May.Google Scholar
Lander, Edgardo. 1995. Neoliberalismo, sociedad civil, y democracia. Ensayos sobre América Latina y Venezuela. Caracas : Universidad Central de Venezuela, Consejo de Desarrollo Científico y Humanístico.Google Scholar
Levine, Daniel H. 1973. Conflict and Political Change in Venezuela. Princeton : Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Levine, Daniel H. 1989. Venezuela: the Nature, Sources, and Future Prospects of Democracy. in Diamond et al. 1989. 247–90.Google Scholar
Levine, Daniel H. 1992. Popular Voices in Latin American Catholicism. Princeton : Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Levine, Daniel H. 1994. Goodbye to Venezuelan Exceptionalism. Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 36, 4 (Winter): 145–82.Google Scholar
Levine, Daniel H. 1996. Beyond the Exhaustion of the Model: Survival and Transformation of Democracy in Venezuela. In Os desafios da democracia na America Latina, ed. Eli, Diniz. Rio de Janeiro : IUPERJ. 367–97.Google Scholar
Lipset, Seymour M. 1981. Political Man. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Lipset, Seymour M., and Stein, Rokkan. 1968. Party Systems and Voter Alignments. New York : Free Press.Google Scholar
López Maya, Margarita. 1995. El ascenso en Venezuela de La Causa R. Revista Venezolana de Economía y Ciencias Sociales 2–3 (April–September): 205–39.Google Scholar
López Maya, Margarita. 1996. Nuevos actores en la crisis de legitimidad del sistema político venezolano. La Causa R, Convergencia, y el Mbr-200. Paper presented at the symposium “La crisis de legitimidad de la democracia en Venezuela,” Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, May.Google Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott, and Timothy, Scully, eds. 1995. Building Democratic Institutions: Party Systems in Latin America. Stanford : Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott, and Matthew Soberg, Shugart, eds. 1997. Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America. New York : Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott, and Eduardo, Viola. 1986. New Social Movements, Political Culture, and Democracy: Brazil and Argentina in the 1980s. Telos 61: 17–52.Google Scholar
Maneiro, Alfredo. 1986. Notas políáicas. Caracas : Ediciones del Agua Mansa.Google Scholar
Martz, John D. 1966. Acción Democrática: Evolution of a Modern Political Party in Venezuela. Princeton : Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Melucci, Alberto, 1988. Nomads of the Present: Social Movements and Individual Needs in Contemporary Society. Philadelphia : Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Molina, José Enrique. 1991. El sistema electoral venezolano y sus consecuencias políticas. Valencia : Vadell Hermanos.Google Scholar
Molina, José Enrique. forthcoming. Electoral System and Democractic Legitimacy in Venezuela. In Compromised Legitimacy: the Crisis of Democracy in Venezuela, ed. Damarys, Canache and Michael, Kulishek.Google Scholar
Molina, José Enrique, and Carmen, Pérez. 1994. Venezuela. ¿Un nuevo sistema de partidos? Las elecciones de 1993. Cuestiones Políticas 13: 63–90.Google Scholar
Naím, Moisés. 1993. Paper Tigers and Minotaurs: The Politics of Venezuela's Economic Reform. Washington, DC : Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.Google Scholar
Navarro, Juan Carlos. 1994. Reversal of Fortune: the Ephemeral Success of Adjustment in Venezuela between 1989 and 1993. Paper presented at the World Bank conference Governance and Successful Adjustment, Washington, Dc.Google Scholar
Navarro, Juan Carlos. 1995. Venezuela's New Political Actors. In Lessons of the Venezuelan Experience, ed. Louis, Goodman, Johanna, Mendelson Forman, Moisés, Naím, Joseph, Tulchin, and Gary, Bland. Washington, DC : Woodrow Wilson Center/Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Nelson, Joan. 1994. Intricate Links: Democratization and Market Reforms in Latin America and Eastern Europe. New Brunswick : Transaction.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, Guillermo, Philippe, Schmitter, and Laurence, Whitehead, eds. 1986. Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Prospects for Democracy. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Ortner, Sherry. 1995. Resistance and the Problem of Ethnographic Refusal. Comparative Studies in Society and History 37, 1: 173–93.Google Scholar
Oxhorn, Phillip. 1995. Organizing Civil Society: The Popular Sectors and the Struggle for Democracy in Chile. University Park : Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Penniman, Howard, ed. 1980. Venezuela at the Polls. Washington, DC : American Enterprise Institute.Google Scholar
Pereira Almao, Valia. 1996. La lealtad democrática del venezolano en los críticos años 90. Paper presented at the symposium La crisis de legitimidad de la democracia en Venezuela, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, May.Google Scholar
Programa Venezolana de Acción y Educación en Derechos Humanos (PROVEA). Selected years. Boletín de derechos humanos y coyuntura. Caracas : PROVEA.Google Scholar
Programa Venezolana de Acción y Educación en Derechos Humanos (PROVEA). Selected years. Situación de los derechos humanos en Venezuela. Caracas : PROVEA.Google Scholar
Ramos, Rollón, María, Luisa. 1995. De las protestas a las propuestas. Identidad, acción, y relevancia política del movimiento vecinal en Venezuela. Caracas : Editorial Nueva Sociedad.Google Scholar
Red de Apoyo por la Justicia y la Paz. 1992. Boletín informativo [various dates]. Caracas.Google Scholar
Reforma de los partidos políáicos: financiamiento y democracia. 1995. Caracas : Konrad Adenauer/COPRE.Google Scholar
Rey, Juan Carlos. 1972. El sistema de partidos venezolano. Politeia 1: 175–230.Google Scholar
Rey, Juan Carlos. 1981. El financiamiento de los partidos políticos y la democracia en Venezuela. Caracas : Consejo Supremo Electoral.Google Scholar
Rey, Juan Carlos. 1989. El futuro de la democracia en Venezuela. Caracas : Ediciones IDEA.Google Scholar
Rey, Juan Carlos. 1991. La democracia venezolana y la crisis del sistema populista de conciliación. Revista de Estudios Políticos 74: 533–78.Google Scholar
Romero, Aníbal. 1997. “Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic”: the Agony of Democracy in Venezuela. Latin American Research Review 32, 1: 7–36.Google Scholar
Santana, Elías. 1983. El poder de los vecinos. Caracas : Tropykos.Google Scholar
Sesto, Farruco. 1992a. Pablo Medina en entrevista. Caracas : Ediciones del Agua Mansa.Google Scholar
Sesto, Farruco. 1992b. Tres entrevistas con Andrés Velásquez. 1986, 1990, 1991. Caracas : Ediciones del Agua Mansa.Google Scholar
Shugart, Matthew S. 1992. Leaders, Rank and File, and Constituents: Electoral Reform in Colombia and Venezuela. Electoral Studies 11, 1 (March): 21–45.Google Scholar
Shugart, Matthew S., and John, M. Carey. 1992. Presidents and Assemblies: Constitutional Design and Electoral Dynamics. New York : Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sikkink, Kathryn. 1993. Human Rights, Principled Issue Networks, and Sovereignty in Latin America. International Organization 47, 3 (Summer): 411–41.Google Scholar
Smith, Christian. 1996. Resisting Reagan: The U.S. Central America Peace Movement. Chicago : University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sunkel, Osvaldo. 1995. Economic Reform and Democratic Viability. In Consolidation of Democracy in Latin America, ed. Joseph, Tulchin with Bernice, Romero. Boulder : Lynne Rienner. 111–24.Google Scholar
Tarrow, Sidney G. 1994. Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action, and Politics. New York : Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Templeton, Andrew. 1995. The Evolution of Public Opinion. In Lessons of the Venezuelan Experience, ed. Louis, Goodman, Johanna, Mendelson Forman, Moisés, Naím, Joseph, Tulchin, and Gary, Bland. Washington, DC : Woodrow Wilson Center/Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Toro Hardy, Alfredo. 1992. ¿Cuál democracia?El Globo (Caracas), 8 September.Google Scholar
Urbaneja, Diego Bautista. 1992. Pueblo y petroleo en la política venezolana del siglo XX. Caracas : CEPET.Google Scholar
Veneconomía. 1996. Analysis of Public Opinion: Economics, Politics, Social Issues. Public Opinion in the Caracas Metropolitan Area. Caracas : Consultores 21, SA.Google Scholar