Venezuela?s crisis: its implications for democracy and Regional stability ? with a focus on the influence of the ?21st century socialism?
- Authors
- Medina Herrera, Evelin Pamela
- Format
- MasterThesis
- Status
- publishedVersion
- Description
Despite of being one of the countries with the highest oil reserves in the world, nowadays, Venezuela finds itself in the worst crisis that the country has experienced. In that respect, not only political leaders but also citizens challenge every day social, political and economic problems. The stability of Venezuela has been negatively influenced by several factors, such as the internal economic policies which basically have depended on the oil reserves, the inefficient management of the country, and the social and political policies which have been aligned to the idea of the ?21st Century Socialism?. In other words, not only the price of the oil but the political goal has played a very large role in Venezuela?s crisis. The internal tensions in the government, the citizen?s discomfort, along with the uncertainty of the countries in the region create multiple threats to the long-term stability of Venezuela. In this sense, there appears to be a crisis with many dimensions, which is permanently affecting the domestic and international environment of the country. Critics state that the country?s situation has seriously worsened and the government has become more authoritarian. Certainly, Ch?vez's revolution and Maduro?s government left behind a legacy of repression and authoritarianism against politicians, private media and all who have opposed them. Unfortunately the crisis is seriously affecting important aspects of the society, such as health and nutrition, social security, and education. At the same time, Venezuela has become a society divided between those who identify with the government and those who identify with the opposition. Another key point, is the fact that the Venezuela? crisis is definitely having significant repercussions on the international community. In fact, some authors argue that Venezuela appears as a great threat to the stability of the whole Latin American region, impacting not only on the future of the regional organizations but also on the internal politics of the countries of the region. Equally important to realize is that some countries and regional organizations support Venezuela and some others condemn the human rights violation and deterioration of democracy. Having this in mind, in order to answer the questions and to understand the statement previously mentioned this thesis will be divided into three sections. The first part provides a brief description of the theory of the ?21st Century Socialism? in order to understand the experience of the concept in Latin America and especially in Venezuela. The second section has been designed to describe the Venezuela?s crisis and its impact on political and social policies; making first a revision of Ch?vez?s government and its successor, Nicolas Maduro. And finally, the third part of this thesis will be focus on the crisis? implications for both democracy and regional stability.
- Publication Year
- 2016
- Language
- eng
- Topic
- RELACIONES INTERNACIONALES
VENEZUELA
SOCIALISMO
DEMOCRACIA
- Repository
- Repositorio SENESCYT
- Rights
- openAccess
- License
- openAccess