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Venezuela: The Decline of a Democracy

Development volume 60, pages 174–179 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

The political crisis in Venezuela has been aggravating for the past 5 years; the economic imbalance has increased the chances of social disintegration while government focuses on holding to power. The institutional deterioration provides forms of control consistent with the authoritarian model in detriment of the values and principles of a democracy that was once a model for stability in Latin America.

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Notes

  1. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-economy-idUSKCN0UT2ER.

  2. http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/venezuela/overview.

  3. ‘Applied to history, "crisis," since 1780, has become an expression of a new sense of time which both indicated and intensified the end of an epoch. Perceptions of such epochal change can be measured by the increased use of crisis. But the concept remains as multilayered and ambiguous as the emotions attached to it. Conceptualized as chronic, "crisis" can also indicate a state of greater or lesser permanence, as in a longer or shorter transition toward something better or worse or toward something altogether different. "Crisis" can announce a recurring event, as in economics, or become an existential term of analysis, as in psychology and theology. All these possible uses can be applied to history itself’ (Koselleck and Richter 2006: 358).

  4. https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2017/venezuela.

  5. http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/26/news/economy/venezuela-economic-crisis/index.html.

  6. http://prodavinci.com/2017/11/12/actualidad/susana-raffalli-el-estado-dejo-de-ser-garante-del-derecho-a-la-alimentacion-por-hugo-prieto/.

  7. http://www.businessinsider.com/countries-with-highest-inflation-rates-in-the-world-2017-10/#2-democratic-republic-of-congo-224-13.

  8. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-11-08/us-military-joins-brazil-army-exercises-in-amazon.

  9. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/17/venezuela-migrants-americas-leaving-home.

  10. http://www.poderopedia.org/ve/organizaciones/Plan_Bolivar_2000.

  11. https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20170809.aspx.

  12. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article1977337.html.

  13. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/venezuela-democracy-vote-protests-death-toll-caracas-nicolas-maduro/.

  14. https://www.ft.com/content/5f07e298-c326-11e7-a1d2-6786f39ef675https://www.ft.com/content/5f07e298-c326-11e7-a1d2-6786f39ef675.

  15. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/venezuelans-suffer-deadly-scarcity-food-medicine.

  16. http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/14/news/economy/venezuela-debt-default-sp/index.html.

  17. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-class-of-1994-venezuelas-golden-generation-is-fleeing-the-country-1510681572?mod=e2tw.

  18. http://elestimulo.com/blog/trasplantada-muere-tras-rechazar-rinon-por-falta-de-medicamentos/.

  19. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-health/suspected-diphtheria-cases-up-in-crisis-stricken-venezuela-data-suggests-idUSKBN1AE0QM.

  20. https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2017/10/economist-explains-1.

  21. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/20/venezuelas-crisis-cause-its-people-to-cut-meals-and-lose-weight.html.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Political Science, Valencia College, Orlando, FL, USA

    Maria Puerta Riera

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  1. Maria Puerta Riera
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Correspondence to Maria Puerta Riera.

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Puerta Riera, M. Venezuela: The Decline of a Democracy. Development 60, 174–179 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41301-018-0157-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41301-018-0157-6

Keywords

  • Democracy
  • Decline
  • Authoritarianism
  • Transition
  • Deconsolidation
  • Venezuela