The scholarly debate on Venezuela's democratic character has become tremendously polarized since the election of Hugo Chavez in 1998. This starkly divided debate has demonstrable impact on the policy realm, as well as the scholarly literature on democratic theory. This debate has run along ideological lines and has focused on differing conceptualizations of normative democracy, namely representative and participatory avenues of democratic engagement. Beyond providing an impactful analysis of this academic debate, this thesis works to supply an Arendtian defense of participation as a potential lense to assess Venezuela's democratic character. I will effectively argue that scholars should return to traditional conceptualizations of democratic theory, such as Arendt's, in order to provide richer and more substantial empirical assessments of democratic performance in light of the multitude of recent experimentations in democratic praxis that has swept the world. This project is relevant to both the scholarly community, as well as the policy realm. / Master of Arts

Suite à l’élection d’Hugo Chávez Frías à la présidence de la République du Venezuela en 1998, une nouvelle Constitution a été adoptée démocratiquement et un processus de réformes des institutions a été mis en marche. Dans la présente thèse, nous nous intéressons aux changements survenus dans le domaine de l’éducation depuis 1998 au sein de la « République Bolivarienne du Venezuela », l’objectif étant de déterminer par une approche multidisciplinaire si, dans quelle mesure et dans quelles conditions les politiques éducatives des gouvernements dirigés par Hugo Chávez s’inscrivent dans le projet politique global de la Révolution Bolivarienne, pensée comme un processus de transformation de la société vénézuélienne. Dans un premier temps, nous analysons le contexte sociopolitique dans lequel sont réalisées les réformes éducatives. Puis, dans un second temps, nous étudions l’évolution des cadres constitutionnels, légaux et administratifs du dit système au cours des douze dernières années, après avoir effectué un bilan de sa situation en 1998. Enfin, dans un troisième chapitre, nous analysons de quelle façon les principes et les pratiques pédagogiques de l’éducation « bolivarienne » sont conçus comme des facteurs décisifs en vue de l’accomplissement du projet politique en cours / After Hugo Chávez election as president of the Republic of Venezuela in 1998, a new Constitution was democratically adopted and a reforming process of the institutions begun. In this PhD, we study the changes that overcame in the field of education in the “Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” since 1998. The purpose is to determine through a multidisciplinarymethod if, how much and in what conditions the educational politics of the governments ruled by Hugo Chávez follow the global political project of the Bolivarian Revolution, which is thought about as a transforming process of the Venezuelan society. First, we analyze the sociopolitical context in which are realized the educational reforms. Afterward, in thesecond chapter, we study the evolution of the constitutional, legal and administrative frames of this system during the last twelve years, after reminding its situation in 1998. Then, in the third chapter, we analyze how the pedagogical principles and practices of the “bolivarian” education are seen as decisive factors in order to accomplish the ongoing political project

Den här studien är tvådelad, den första delen är en kvalitativ empirisk textanalys medkvantitativa inslag, av Sveriges fyra största tidningar. Den undersöker förändringen i bildenav Venezuelas president mellan 1998 och 2007. Den andra delen försöker utifrån engramscianskt inspirerad syn förklara hur den ”borgerliga hegemonin” (som representeras avovanstående tidningar) har hanterat Chavez som fenomen. Slutsatsen är att Hugo Chavezprogressiva reformer ständigt knyts an till negativa sammanhang som att han är antidemokratoch frotterar sig med diktatorer.

This thesis examines the use of history, historical narratives and the relation to Venezuelan historical consciousness in Libro Rojo, a publication of The Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). It consists of four parts: an introduction, a declaration of principles, statutes and finally what is called the programmatical bases (bases programaticas) of the party. A starting point for this thesis is that this is an under prioritized area of research about the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela. It aims to show the centrality of history in these fundamental documents of the biggest left-wing party in Latin America. The thesis finds that symbolically charged historical figures – mainly national icons of Venezuela´s struggle for national liberation - are mobilized to back up contemporary aspirations and influence public perception of what kind of future is possible and desirable. Libro Rojo structures the relationship between past, present and future in order to influence historical consciousness. It also finds that Libro Rojo constructs a vision of socialism which aims to show that the ideas and actions of Venezuela´s symbolically charged historical figures are compatible with the ideas of 19th and 20th century western Marxism. An illustration of this is the reference to Peruvian Marxist José Carlos Mariáteguí and his saying that socialism on the American continent can neither be an imitation nor a copy of foreign models, but a heroic creation of the people. Furthermore in Libro Rojo, the ideas of liberation theology, Christianity as well as "all universal and humanist thought" are evoked as foundations for the contemporary aspirations of the PSUV. The present is situated within a context of contemporary history in which themes such as the struggle of the peoples against neoliberalism and the threats to the survival of humanity due to climate changes, economic crisis and war are central. It describes a near future in which humanity will have a choice: between its salvation and flourishing through socialism, or its extinction through world capitalism.

This diploma thesis is dealing with the influence of culture on the foreign policy of Venezuela, showing how socio-cultural determinants are reflected in formation and ideological basis of foreign policy and its realizing on the international stage. The thesis is divided into two parts - the first part is dedicated to the characteristic of venezuelan national culture in general, based on surveys of Hofstede and Inglehart, and in particular, based on such a phenomenon as caudillism, populism and personality cult of Simon Bolívar. The second part of the thesis is handling with the political-economic development in the second half of 20th century. The emphasis is on how the politics in Venezuela which has changed profoundly with the election of Hugo Chávez is reflected in the foreign policy of Venezuela.

Since 2014, the United States has been imposing sanctions on the Venezuelan government in an attempt to accomplish foreign policy goals that would be beneficial to its geopolitical interests in the region and help the Venezuelan people in the process. This research offers a comprehensive empirical analysis of these sanctions. It aims to identify the effects of US sanctions in Venezuela, as intended by the foreign policy goals of the United States, and to measure the effectiveness of sanctions in accomplishing these goals. Additionally, this research seeks to explain the geopolitical strategy of US sanctions as seen through the lens of geoeconomic theory. It will detail the US intensions of generating regime change, restoring democracy, and improving human rights in Venezuela. More specifically, it will reveal the role of sanctions in acting as a geopolitical tool to fulfill these intentions. Ultimately, the research will show how sanctions and companion policies are intended to improve the US-Venezuela relationship that has declined since the time of Hugo Chavez.

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Les transformations de l'infrastructure économique et ses rapports avec l'État au Venezuela entre 1908 et 2008 constituent l'objet général de cette thèse. Il s'agit de proposer un cadre d'interprétation général de l'histoire économique nationale considérée dans ses liens avec le capitalisme mondial et dans sa spécificité propre. Les forces qui structurent le mode de reproduction de l'économie vénézuélienne ne diffèrent guère de celles valables pour les économies périphériques en générale. La constitution et la hiérarchisation de l'économie mondiale capitaliste apparait comme la détermination la plus générale : les transformations des processus de production des pays du Centre et, leur corrélat, la division internationale du travail imposée à l'ensemble du monde balisent le processus d'accumulation à l'échelle mondiale. Toutefois, bien que l'évolution de l'économie mondiale capitaliste soit la même pour tous, les réponses économiques, politiques et sociales que la division internationale du travail suscitent sont spécifiques à chaque formation. La dichotomie centre/périphérie se traduit par des formes d'articulation différenciées des pays périphériques avec les centres capitalistes. Aussi, c'est ce dernier trait qui permet d'expliquer les différentes trajectoires de développement. En ce sens, les pays mono exportateurs de pétrole constituent des cas extrêmes qui les différencient radicalement des autres pays de la périphérie. Le Venezuela constitue, à cet égard, un exemple classique. Cette caractéristique fonde la différence de structure productive, de rapports de classes et de formes d'Etat entre le Venezuela et les autres pays latino-américains.

Cette thèse a pour objet les corrélations existant entre le leadership charismatique populiste et la politique extérieure vénézuélienne alors que, traditionnellement, ces deux objets sont considérés indépendamment l’un de l’autre. L’étude géo-historique de la construction de l’État-Nation vénézuélien aux XIXe et début du XXe siècles explique celle d’une « identité de corps ». L’État précède la Nation qui se construit par le conflit externe et la reconnaissance mutuelle, à la faveur de leaderships politiques dominants (personnalistes et/ou autoritaires) et, pour surmonter le traumatisme suscité par ces conflits et l’échec du projet supranational réunificateur (Grande Colombie), de représentations politiques mythifiantes du peuple et du pouvoir. Ce processus présage le façonnage d’une matrice populiste du politique ayant vocation à compléter cette identité en prolongeant l’interpellation du peuple, tant à l’intérieur qu’à l’extérieur. Ce travail se focalise alors sur les mécanismes de construction et de routinisation du leadership charismatique populiste d’Hugo Chávez Frías et étudie les canaux de diffusion et de globalisation de ce type de leadership qui sont aussi ceux de la diplomatie multiple « bolivarienne ». Ainsi, le peuple n’est plus seulement un groupement de nationaux vénézuéliens mais une communauté « bolivarienne » plus élargie. Le populisme n’est plus envisagé comme un moment ni comme s’exprimant exclusivement sur le territoire national, mais comme un système global qui alimente autant qu’il se nourrit de l’autre et de l’extérieur. La politique extérieure peut alors être analysée sous l’angle d’une politique transnationalisée. / This thesis aims to show evidence for existing correlations between populist charismatic leadership and the Venezuelan foreign policy, whilst these two topics are traditionally considered independently from each other. The geo-historical study of the construction of the Venezuelan nation state in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries explains its « corporate identity ». The state precedes the nation that builds up from external conflict and mutual recognition, for dominant political leadership reasons (personalistic and / or authoritarian), and to overcome the trauma caused by the conflict and the failure of the unifying supranational project (Gran Colombia) by mythifying political representations of the people and power. This process suggests the shaping of a populist political matrix aiming to complete this identity by prolonging the appeal to the people, both inside and outside the country. The work then focuses on mechanisms aiming at building and routinizing Hugo Chávez Frías’s charismatic and populist leadership. It also studies the broadcasting channels and the globalization of this type of leadership which are similar to the « Bolivarian » multiple diplomacy. Thus, the people are no longer just a group of Venezuelan nationals but a much wider « Bolivarian » community. Populism is no longer conceived as a moment nor considered as expressing itself exclusively within the country, but as a global system that feeds as much as it is fed from others and from the outside. Foreign policy can thus be analyzed in terms of a transnationalized policy.