A Turning Point
Maria Pimentel
CPO 2002: Introduction to Comparative Politics
Maria Ilcheva
“Failed states can no longer perform basic functions such as education, security, or
governance, usually due to fractious violence or extreme poverty. Within this power vacuum,
people fall victim to competing factions and crime…” (Failed States.) The Venezuelan
constitution declares in its preamble that the Bolivarian Republic will have a government whose
political organs “shall always be democratic, participatory, elective, decentralized, alternative,
responsible and pluralist, with revocable mandates.” (Smilde.) The Venezuelan state has failed to
honor and live up to its its own preamble. Within the last 18 years or so the state has resembled
more of an authoritarian regime with veils of democracy in place. One author states in
Democracy for the Privileged: Crisis and Transition in Venezuela by Richard S. Hillman that the
substance of a liberal democracy may lead to the conclusion that it is more of an idea; rather than
a day to day functioning reality. With this in mind, this research paper will discuss and analyze
the ever changing democracy in Venezuela by taking into account the impact of political culture
and the various government institutions set in place and how they affect democracy in Venezuela.
The end of the Cold War brought the collapse of many authoritarian regimes and turned
them into democracies. This sudden need for dominance of a political ideology in certain areas
of the world failed to acknowledge the complex set of problems and variables associated with
political regime change. (Hillman.) “Thus, it has become fashionable to refer to the triumph of
democratic systems, miraculously established in a very short term, before they have been able to
take root in societies that have scant experience with participatory politics.” (Hillman).
Venezuela was only one of the countless authoritarian regimes turned democratic that would
soon show the problems of a newly turned government. Although democracy was achieved to a
certain extent there were still tensions between this new ideology and Venezuela’s political
culture. In Democracy for the Privileged: Crisis and Transition in Venezuela, Richard S. Hillman
discusses and analyzes the political paradoxes, patterns and institutions, group interests, etc. of
Venezuela and how that all in the end impacts not only democracy but the image that the
Venezuelan population has of democracy. In a 2007 there was a survey conducted by
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Latinobarometro on public opinions in 18 Latin American countries. It shed light on several
questions; one of them being about democracy and how they felt it was being represented in their
