Sem:Venezuela Caribbean

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Between the 1960s and early1980s, social scientists often heralded Venezuela, a medium-size country with a vast Caribbean coast and the largest proven reserves of petroleum in the world, as an ‘exception’ in an area of the world plagued by political turmoil and dictatorial regimes. In retrospect, this ‘exceptionalism’ seemed to have been justified. After all, when compared to other countries in Latin America, Venezuela appeared to have found the long sought equilibrium between economic, social and political development. Such an analysis, however, tended to ignore warning signs emerging from Venezuela’s grassroots and from analysts in Venezuela and North America whom had warned -as early as the late 1960s- of the dangers posed by an elite-based “pacted democracy” and an economic development model fueled by oil rents in a ‘dependent’ nation. Then, in 1998, came the election of the late Hugo Chávez Frias and what became known as the "Bolivarian Revolution", which served as the beginning of what has been called the "pink tide" across Latin America and the Caribbean. His election also began a process of redefinition of Venezuela's foreign policy --and interhemispheric relations-- whose impact we are yet to fully understand. This redefinition of Venezuela's foreign policy has had an important impact on the Caribbean and on Venezuela's role as a key actor in the wider Caribbean basin. Although much has been said about the rise and current turmoil of the ‘revolution’ Venezuela has experienced since 1999, the level of understanding and analysis in terms of the origins, impact and future of such events remains unsatisfactory. This seminar will attempt to fill that gap. Using a multidisciplinary 2 approach, the seminar will analyze specific events that led to the transformation experienced in Venezuela over the past century. Beginning with an analysis of the colonization period and the failed attempts to create a unitary nation-state in the 19th century, the seminar will explore economic, social and political developments that led to the emergence and breakdown of “Punto Fijo” and the election of the late Hugo Chávez Frias in December of 1998. The seminar will also analyze the record of the “Bolivarian Revolution” and its impact on Venezuela. The impact of petroleum on Venezuela’s development and the history of the country’s foreign policy, particularly in relation to the Caribbean Basin, will also be analyzed in the context of contemporary inter-American relations.