Power and Politics in Venezuelan Higher Education Reform, 1999-2012

Power and Politics in Venezuelan Higher Education Reform, 1999-2012 by Elliot Johann Storm A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Political Science University of Toronto © Copyright by Elliot Johann Storm 2016 Power and Politics in Venezuelan Higher Education Reform, 1999-2012 Elliot Johann Storm Doctor of Philosophy Department of Political Science University of Toronto 2016 Abstract This dissertation explains why Venezuelan state and government elites were able to successfully design, adopt, and implement some higher education reforms but not others during the presidencies of Hugo Chávez (1999-2012). Conceptualizing universities as political institutions that occupy a liminal position within the borderlands of state and society, and using an approach that emphasizes the relational and procedural nature of political change, I compare four higher education initiatives advanced by Venezuelan reformers: a series of universalization programs, the 2001 Organic Education Law, the 2009 Organic Education Law, and the 2010 University Education Law. My analysis reveals that the adoption and implementation of these initiatives primarily depended upon how the distribution of institutional autonomy and capacity between the state and the oppositional university sector conditioned the strategic choices of key actors. In the case of universalization reform, actors within the executive branch were enabled by considerable autonomy relative to oppositional forces in the agenda-setting, design, and adoption stages of reform, while material capacity facilitated the implementation process. In the legislative arena, reformers relied upon similar institutional autonomy to set the agenda and design the three bills, but the constitutional guarantee of university autonomy and an increasingly deft use of intra- and inter-institutional connective structures (including governing councils, faculty unions, ii and student organizations) allowed the oppositional universities to form a cohesive bloc that constrained reformers and prevented the full implementation of any new legislation. This dissertation therefore challenges accounts of the Venezuelan state as exceptionally strong, provides a detailed account of extra-parliamentary opposition to the Chávez government, and foregrounds the university as an important but significantly understudied political actor in the context of state-society relations. iii “Long live the state, by whoever it’s made” Leonard Cohen, “A Singer Must Die" iv Acknowledgements I arrived at the topic of this dissertation in large part as a way to clarify my own thought regarding questions about power, justice, and the role of the state in social transformation. While no closer to having the answers now than when I began, I am grateful to the many people and organizations that allowed me to indulge this venture. Financial support from the Ontario government, the School of Graduate Studies, the Department of Political Science, and my parents allowed me to conduct fieldwork in Venezuela. My foremost gratitude is to those Venezuelans that welcomed me into their homes, offices, and study spaces to discuss the politics of higher education reform. In Caracas, Nelson Agelvis and Sara Kafrouni provided hospitality, security and incomparable local knowledge for the entirety of my stay. Alexandra Panzarelli went well out of her way to assist the acculturation and research process as soon as I landed. Yesman Utrera served as an intrepid cultural guide and interpreter whose ability to finesse various bureaucracies proved critical to my data collection. I thank Andy Rosati and Jared Abbott for their companionship as roommates and friends during my stay, and for facilitating this Canadian’s first ever celebration of the Fourth of July in, of all places, Hugo Chávez's Venezuela. From the first stages of this project to its conclusion, I had the good fortune to be counselled by a group of ideal readers and constructive critics. At my defense, Kent Eaton and Antoinette Handley pushed me to think further about the nuances of how power works across different institutional contexts. I was also privileged to have a dissertation committee that consistently assisted me in ways both big and small. Ruth Hayhoe graciously invited me into an important interdisciplinary community at the Ontario Institution for Studies in Education, which helped me sharpen my thought about the portions of this thesis related specifically to higher education. Ed v Schatz prompted me to think more carefully about state strength and weakness, collective action, and the boundaries between state and society. I thank Ed too for assisting with several essential but decidedly unglamorous administrative tasks that ensured my movement through the program, often on short notice. I am most indebted to my supervisor, Ana María Bejarano, whose encouragement to write was just as important as her injunctions to stop and move on. It is a testament to her great patience, generosity, and humour that without exception I always looked forward to our discussions about this project. I truly could not have had a better guide. Beyond my committee, I benefitted from many intellectual exchanges with a variety of individuals from Latin American Studies and the Latin American Political Science Student Association at the University of Toronto, the comparative higher education thesis group at OISE, especially Grace Karram Stephenson, and fellow panelists at Canadian Political Science Association and Canadian Association for Latin American and Caribbean Studies conferences. A version of Chapter 4 appears as "Brokerage, Political Opportunity, and Protest in Venezuelan Higher Education Reform" in Current Issues in Comparative Education, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring 2015): 17-26. Friends and family of all ages and several species have provided important support over the years, not only in terms of the narrow scope of this dissertation but in all of the living that happened alongside it. I would particularly like to thank the Selak family for the simultaneously rejuvenating and exhausting playtime, and Shelly Ghai Bajaj, who since our first white-knuckled days on the UTM shuttle bus has been a sounding board for many ideas and a great friend throughout the duration of the program. I am also grateful to my colleagues and friends at the Teaching Assistants’ Training Program at the Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation, whose thoughtfulness and passion for pedagogy enriched the ways that I teach, think, and write vi about politics and education. Finally, I must acknowledge the role of the 2015 CUPE 3902 strike in reminding me of what is at ethical stake in conflicts over academic integrity, equity, and respect for different types of labour within university communities. Although this was an enormously frustrating experience, the clarity it gave me as I began a critical stage of revisions was such that, to quote Nella Larsen’s Passing (2003 [1929]), “it was as if in a house long dim a match had been struck, showing ghastly shapes where had been only blurred shadows” (p. 91). For the last twelve years I have had the privilege and the pleasure of sharing my life with Miriam Novick. I could not have made it through graduate school without her sanctuary, and would not have completed this dissertation without the benefit of her impeccable sense of critique. With this work now complete, I hereby solemnly promise not to pick any more fights about democracy when I suffer from writer's block. I dedicate this to my sister, who I must grudgingly admit turned out not to be that bad after all, and to my parents, my most important teachers. vii Table of Contents Abstract ii Epigraph iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents viii List of Tables xi List of Figures xii List of Abbreviations xiii Glossary xv Timeline of Major Political Events in Venezuela, 1998-2013 xvi Introduction: Universities, Higher Education, and the Bolivarian 1 Revolution The Emergence of a "Magical State," the Decline of an "Exceptional 3 Democracy," and the Rise of "Twenty-First Century Socialism" Beyond Democracy and Dictatorship: State Power and Social Change 11 Higher Education Reform and the Bolivarian Revolution 16 Explaining Limited Reform 19 Chapter 1: Institutional Power and Strategic Choice in University-State 27 Relations Conceptualizing States and Social Forces 28 Strategic Choice and the Policymaking Process 34 Political Science and the Politics of (Higher) Education 38 Universities in State-Society Relations 42 Autonomy and Capacity in State-University Relations 48 Power and the Contentious Politics of Higher Education Reform 54 Methodology and Research Design 59 The Puzzle: Explaining Limited Reform 59 Case Selection 62 Structured, Focused Comparison and Within-Case Analysis 67 Data Collection 68 Chapter 2: "We Rise to Greet the State, to Confront the State:" Venezuelan 72 State-University Relations, 1696-1998 The Imperial and Colonial Background 74 Latin American Universities After Independence 79 The Venezuelan University and System of Higher Education 88 The Colonial University: 1696-1827 88 The Republican University and Early State Consolidation: 1827-1898 91 Turn of the Century Dictatorship: 1899-1935 93 Early Liberalization and the Trienio: 1936-1948 98 Military Restoration and Marcos Pérez Jiménez: 1948-1958 101 The Fourth Republic: 1958-1998 105 Democratization and University Renovation: 1958-1969 107 viii The Oil Boom and Rapid Institutional Expansion: 1971-1982 123

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