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The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela: The Limits of Ideological Diplomacy and Regional Leadership

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Diplomatic Strategies of Nations in the Global South

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Abstract

In the last 17 years, from the election of Hugo Chávez Frias to the presidency in 1998 until his death in March 2013 and the election of Nicolás Maduro on April 14, 2013, Venezuela has gone through significant changes. The launching of a political project oriented toward the establishment of “socialism for the twenty-first century,” underwritten by the abundant petroleum revenues earned since 2002 has signified an unprecedented transformation in Venezuela. In this context, there has also been a radical change in the foreign policy of the country in the transition from the pre-Chávez era to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. This chapter analyzes Bolivarian Venezuela’s objectives and values, orientations and priorities, and the transformation of the institutions charged with carrying out foreign policy, in particular, the Ministry of the Popular Power (Poder Popular) for External Relations of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as well as the creation of a set of intergovernmental organizations at the regional level, particularly the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), to serve as a supportive mechanism for promoting international solidarity with the revolutionary process. While the main elements of the Bolivarian government’s approach to politics and foreign policy continue to be enforced today, serious economic and social deterioration linked to the decline in international oil prices have presented major challenges to Venezuelan regional leadership in recent years and is reflected in parallel changes in its foreign policy.

This chapter was translated from the Spanish by Jacqueline Braveboy-Wagner. Some of the material appeared in an earlier book (see Serbin 2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Coordinadora Regional de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Andrés Serbin & Andrei Serbin Pont

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  1. Andrés Serbin
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  2. Andrei Serbin Pont
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  1. Political Science Department, The City College of New York, New York, USA

    Jacqueline Braveboy-Wagner

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Serbin, A., Serbin Pont, A. (2016). The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela: The Limits of Ideological Diplomacy and Regional Leadership. In: Braveboy-Wagner, J. (eds) Diplomatic Strategies of Nations in the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45226-9_10

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