An Inside Look at Venezuela: Oil, Chávez, and the Bolivarian Revolution

Seeing Through Venezuela: Oil, Chávez, and the Bolivarian Revolution seeks to present an overall account of Venezuela's more than 200 years of independence, bringing together its historical background, regional setting, and present-day conditions, and to explore the causes of its dramatic ups and downs. The book analyzes three types of factors: structural factors, including state capacity and resource endowment; institutional factors, including representative democracy; and sociocultural and psychological factors, including rentier attitudes. It traces Venezuela's historical development, reveals the defining features of its politics, economy, and social psychology, and focuses on the political practices of the Chávez government as it explored an alternative path to development. It also looks ahead to the country's prospects for transforming its economy, strengthening state-building, exploring alternative development paths, and breaking free from the constraints of traditional social attitudes, while analyzing the challenges it faces.