VENEZUELA DURING THE CHÁVEZ ERA (1999-2013) Participatory Democracy, Economic Planning, and the Contradictions of Oil Dependency

Abstract

This thesis examines the socio-economic and political consequences of Venezuela’s oil dependency during the tumultuous Chávez era (1999-2013), coinciding with two historically significant oil booms (2004-2008 and 2009-2014). Despite efforts to transform Venezuelan society and economy through the financial means provided by the oil booms, this thesis concludes that Venezuela during the Chávez era was not able to overcome the key political economic challenges specific to underdeveloped countries for social transformation. This is because the challenges were embedded in the social and political fabric, which had developed due to oil economic dominance in Venezuela, were inherently connected to the relationships of unequal international exchange. The thesis demonstrates how oil dependency deepened during this period with consequences for the effectiveness of community participation and the social transformation project. Drawing on micro-scale ethnographic studies and macroeconomic data, the empirical basis of this thesis includes three case studies reflecting different attempts at political economic transformation: urban land reform and Communal Councils; cooperatives and state-worker co-managed factories; and Venezuela’s bilateral trade agreements with China. These case studies demonstrate different dimensions of the contradictions during the Chávez era, which were underpinned by the government’s fixed exchange rate systems, and other financial market interventions to maximise oil revenue. These dimensions include: the contradiction between participatory democracy and decentralisation, and the centralisation of power through control over the oil industry’s resources; the limitations that oil dependency imposed on increasing domestic productive capacity in other sectors; and the influence of complex international financing and trade relations.