The Bolivarian Revolution: overview of an ongoing ambiguity

• Main Author: Carlos Antonio Romero
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad del Rosario, Bogota 2013-06-01
• Series: Desafíos
• Subjects: Venezuela; revolución; Chávez; régimen político; cambio
• Online Access: https://revistas.urosario.edu.co/index.php/desafios/article/view/2575

The electoral victory of Hugo Chávez in 1998 became an important issue for the Latin American social sciences. Indeed, the very idea of being given such a major change in Venezuelan politics encouraged a number of perspectives on a process that has drawn the attention of many scholars and analysts of our reality. In 1999, the majority of Venezuelan electors gave a blank check to an electoral alliance that promised to change a nation which at that time took its toll to a democratic period which failed to adapt to a new age. Thus, we have at least three major areas for academic inquiry: First of all, the discussion about the scope of that change. Second, the discussion of the causes of that change, in terms of regarded Venezuela as a case sui-generis in comparative politics. And third, the analysis of the role played by the international variable in shaping that change.