Dismantling Democracy in Venezuela: The Chávez Authoritarian Experiment
Cambridge University Press, 11/18/2010
EAN 9780521145572, ISBN10: 0521145570
Paperback, 434 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
Language: English
This book examines the process of dismantling the democratic institutions and protections in Venezuela under the Hugo Chávez regime. The actions of the Chávez government have influenced similar processes and undemocratic manoeuvrings in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Honduras. Since the election of Hugo Chávez as president of Venezuela in 1998, a sinister form of nationalistic authoritarianism has arisen at the expense of long-established democratic standards. During the past decade, the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution has been systematically attacked by all branches of the Chávez government, particularly by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, which has legitimized the Chávez-ordered constitutional violations. The Chávez regime has purposely defrauded the Constitution and severely restricted representative government, all in the name of a supposedly participatory democracy controlled by a popularly supported central government. This volume illustrates how an authoritarian, nondemocratic government has been established in Venezuela.
Part I. The Political Assault to State Powers through an Elected but Exclusionist Constituent Assembly and the Framework for Authoritarianism
1. The 1999 constitution making process as an instrument for framing an authoritarian political regime
2. The 1999 constitution
from an exclusionist constitution making process to its distorting implementation
3. The endless and illegitimate transitory regime preventing the effective enforcement of the constitution
4. The outcome
the consolidation of authoritarianism defrauding democracy
Part II. Institutional Developments for the Consolidation of Authoritarianism
5. The reinforced centralization of the federation
6. Powers' concentration and authoritarian government
7. The catastrophic dependence and political subjection of the supreme tribunal of justice
8. Statization, nationalization, expropriation and confiscation of private assets
Part III. The Constitutional Reforms Proposals Designed to Consolidate Authoritarianism
9. The failed attempt to consolidate an authoritarian, socialist, centralized, repressive and militarist state in the constitution
10. The alternate principle of government and the 2009 constitutional amendment on continuous reelection.