Sowing Conflict in Venezuela: Political Violence and Economic Policy

Abstract

From the 1960s through the 1980s, Venezuela was lauded as the paragon of democracy and stability in South America. While throughout the region, military regimes reigned with a previously unknown ferocity, Venezuelan democracy appeared to flourish. Yet by the end of the 1980s, Venezuela was becoming one of South America’s more conflict-ridden countries. This chapter seeks to explain the shift in Venezuela’s level of conflict and internal violence relative to others in the region, with particular attention to the effects of economic conditions and policies on shifting levels of social conflict.