Venezuela

Hugo Chavez and the Decline of an "Exceptional Democracy"

Steve Ellner, Miguel Tinker Salas

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2006
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781461646648
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Latin American & Caribbean History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This authoritative book offers a comprehensive assessment of contemporary Venezuela. Analyzing the multifaceted phenomenon of Hugo Chávez, leading scholars move beyond his flamboyant style to focus on the concerns of popular social and political movements. The book challenges the misleading notions that for several decades glorified Venezuelan "exceptionalism" and minimized the role of important actors. After setting the historical and socio-economic contexts, the contributors explore racial issues, social and labor movements, electoral politics, economic and oil policy, and United States support for the Venezuelan opposition. Underscoring the complexity of Chávez and his popularity, the book highlights the need to avoid simplistic assessments of the past and present and offers a clear-eyed understanding of Venezuelan reality today.

Contributions by: Christopher I. Clement, Steve Ellner, Maria Pilar García Guadilla, Daniel Hellinger, Jesús María Herrera Salas, Edgardo Lander, Dick Parker, Miguel Tinker Salas, and Cristóbal Valencia Ramírez

Table of contents

• LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES IN THE CLASSROOM
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Acronyms
• Series Introduction
• Introduction: New Perspectives and the Chávez Phenomenon
• Part I - THEORETICAL, HISTORICAL, AND INTERNATIONAL BACKGROUND
• Part II - OIL AND ECONOMIC POLICY
• Part III - LABOR AND RACE
• Part IV - SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
• Part V - ELECTORAL POLITICS, SOCIAL CHANGE, AND U.S. REACTION
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Contributors