Abstract, Class Strategies in Chavista Venezuela: Pragmatic and Populist Policies in a Broader Context

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Class Strategies in Chavista Venezuela: Pragmatic and Populist Policies in a Broader Context

by Steve Ellner

The governments of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro responded to the opposition’s attempts at regime change by implementing pragmatic policies favoring businesspeople who refused to participate in destabilization actions, as well as populist social measures benefiting the nonprivileged. Both sets of policies have to be placed in political context. The characterization of allegedly pro-government businesspeople as a new ruling elite referred to as the boliburguesía fails to take into account the sharp tensions between them and the Chavista leadership. The primary importance of social programs in the Chavista political triumphs over an extended period of time and of the periodic initiatives that sparked life into individual programs implicitly rules out claims regarding the government’s failure to alleviate poverty or achieve other social objectives. The Chavista governments failed to take full advantage of favorable periods and junctures when the opposition was demoralized following defeats in order to correct the negative side effects of pragmatic and populist class policies, such as bureaucratization and crony capitalism.

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Book, Rethinking Venezuelan Politics: Class, Conflict, and the Chavez Phenomenon

:::::: Book ::::::

Rethinking Venezuelan Politics: Class, Conflict, and the Chavez Phenomenon
by Steve Ellner

In this fresh look at Venezuelan politics, Steve Ellner emphasizes the central significance of the country's economic and social cleavages. Ellner's journey through modern Venezuelan history - observing popular masses and social actors as much as political elites and formal institutions - fundamentally informs his analysis of Hugo Chavez's presidency and the 'Bolivarian Revolution' at its core. Perhaps equally important, as he explores the rise of Chavismo, opposition within the country and abroad, internal tensions in the Chavista movement, and the trajectory of the Chavez government domestically and on the international stage, he sheds new light not only on Venezuela, but also on the recent political turmoil elsewhere in Latin America. This title offers a fresh perspective on Venezuelan politics from the colonial period to the present, emphasizing the central significance of the country's economic and social cleavages.

Book, Rethinking Venezuelan Politics: Class, Conflict, and the Chavez Phenomenon

:::::: Book ::::::

Rethinking Venezuelan Politics: Class, Conflict, and the Chavez Phenomenon
by Steve Ellner

In this fresh look at Venezuelan politics, Steve Ellner emphasizes the central significance of the country's economic and social cleavages. Ellner's journey through modern Venezuelan history - observing popular masses and social actors as much as political elites and formal institutions - fundamentally informs his analysis of Hugo Chavez's presidency and the 'Bolivarian Revolution' at its core. Perhaps equally important, as he explores the rise of Chavismo, opposition within the country and abroad, internal tensions in the Chavista movement, and the trajectory of the Chavez government domestically and on the international stage, he sheds new light not only on Venezuela, but also on the recent political turmoil elsewhere in Latin America. This title offers a fresh perspective on Venezuelan politics from the colonial period to the present, emphasizing the central significance of the country's economic and social cleavages.

Abstract, Communal Currencies The Chavista Experiment with Noncapitalist Money

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Communal Currencies
The Chavista Experiment with Noncapitalist Money
by Kristofer Dittmer


Venezuela’s communal currencies are unique worldwide as a central government initiative. However, efforts to establish significant currency systems have failed so far. Their lack of success can be interpreted in terms of the experiment’s foundation on strong cultural optimism and confused concepts of the nature and origins of money. Government support has been limited to a single model of isolationist-egalitarian “barter” systems. Some form of local currency may be relevant to ecosocialist transition in Venezuela, but the current spatial organization of the systems is wasteful of transport fuel, suggesting that a transition to ecosocialism cannot postpone addressing structural challenges.

Abstract, The Reproduction and Crisis of Capitalism in Venezuela under Chavismo

:::::: Abstract ::::::

The Reproduction and Crisis of Capitalism in Venezuela under Chavismo
by Fernando Dachevsky and Juan Kornblihtt


The current crisis in Venezuela is sometimes said to have been provoked by the response of imperialism and the local oligarchy to the fundamental changes in economic and political relations fostered during the administrations of Hugo Chávez. A quantitative study using various statistical sources shows that the significant increase in oil rent during the Chávez presidency did not translate into a qualitative transformation in the form of state intervention and that, although social expenditures increased in that period, most of the income that allowed this was obtained through currency overvaluation by inefficient national and foreign capital. The current crisis is, therefore, evidence of the limits of low-productivity state and private capital reproduction due to the decline in oil prices rather than of a conflict between overcoming and reproducing capitalism in an alleged “economic war.”

Abstract, From System Collapse to Chavista Hegemony The Party Question in Bolivarian Venezuela

:::::: Abstract ::::::

From System Collapse to Chavista Hegemony
The Party Question in Bolivarian Venezuela
by Gabriel Hetland                                                                 


During the 14 years Hugo Chávez was in office, Venezuela’s party system experienced a 180-degree shift. When Chávez was elected in 1998, Venezuela’s party system had collapsed because of a two-decade-long economic-cum-political crisis. His initial appeal was built, in large part, on his antiparty message, a stance that continued through the first half of his time in office. A series of factors, principally the need for a more cohesive organization to combat an intransigent opposition, led to the creation of the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (United Socialist Party of Venezuela—PSUV) in 2007. The PSUV quickly became Venezuela’s largest party and the linchpin of a new hegemonic system. The contradictions of that system are manifested in the split between the PSUV’s right and left wings, and the hegemony of Chavismo is now in doubt.

Book, Rethinking Venezuelan Politics: Class, Conflict, and the Chavez Phenomenon

:::::: Book ::::::

Rethinking Venezuelan Politics: Class, Conflict, and the Chavez Phenomenon
by Steve Ellner

In this fresh look at Venezuelan politics, Steve Ellner emphasizes the central significance of the country's economic and social cleavages. Ellner's journey through modern Venezuelan history - observing popular masses and social actors as much as political elites and formal institutions - fundamentally informs his analysis of Hugo Chavez's presidency and the 'Bolivarian Revolution' at its core. Perhaps equally important, as he explores the rise of Chavismo, opposition within the country and abroad, internal tensions in the Chavista movement, and the trajectory of the Chavez government domestically and on the international stage, he sheds new light not only on Venezuela, but also on the recent political turmoil elsewhere in Latin America. This title offers a fresh perspective on Venezuelan politics from the colonial period to the present, emphasizing the central significance of the country's economic and social cleavages.

Political Report #1151 Beyond the Boliburguesía Thesis

Carlos Diaz / Creative Commons By Steve Ellner, NACLA  (Steve is also an LAP Editor)

"Oil didn't wreck Venezuela's economy, socialism did." That's what Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, of the Washington-based conservative think tank Ethics and Public Policy Center, wrote earlier this year in his reflection on Venezuela's deepening economic crisis. Gobry, a prolific writer for Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and other publications, went on to criticize Venezuelan analysts who scapegoat petroleum, even though he recognized that declining oil prices have aggravated the nation's difficulties. "The culprit is clear and obvious," Golbry contends. "The problem is Venezuela's authoritarian socialism."

Political Report # 1131 The Left Isn't Dead Yet in Venezuela By Raven Brown, Common Dreams

Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro at a Chavista rally earlier this year. (Photo: Ministry of Communication) Political Report # 1131 The Left Isn't Dead Yet in Venezuela By Raven Brown, Common Dreams

On December 6th Venezuelans headed to the polls and handed a blow to the legacy of Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution. But, contrary to what the majority of media outlets are reporting, while it was damaging to the Revolution, chavismo was not dealt a death blow. The opposition, known as the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), won a two-thirds majority, a landslide victory with 112 parliamentary seats, while the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) only won 55 seats. This puts the opposition in a position to roll back the socialist programs which make up the chavismo policy agenda and to submit President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's successor, to a referendum aimed to oust him from power.