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The Case of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2018 Anti-capitalism in the Contemporary Age: The Case of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela William Maddens University of Central Florida Part of the Political Science Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Maddens, William, "Anti-capitalism in the Contemporary Age: The Case of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela" (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 6016. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/6016 ANTI-CAPITALISM IN THE CONTEMPORARY AGE: THE CASE OF THE UNITED SOCIALIST PARTY OF VENEZUELA by WILLIAM MADDENS B.A. University of Central Florida 2014 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Political Science in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2018 Major Professor: Daniel Marien © 2018 William Maddens ii ABSTRACT Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the popularity of anti-capitalist parties around the world has fallen. However, there are still surviving anti-capitalist political parties that survived this fall. In examining these parties, it must be determined whether they have any fresh ideas to overcoming the challenges of transitioning to a socialist society, and if they have any answers to the problems that plagued past attempts at socialism. One such party that has enjoyed much electoral success is the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. When taking a look at party programs, platforms, and statements made by party leaders, it does not appear that this party has made any conscious goal to answer the questions posed by previous attempts to transition away from capitalism, nor do they appear to answer criticisms posed by scholars on the subject. The United Socialist Party of Venezuela seems to have failed to learn from history. iii To my amazing wife, who never stops encouraging me to reach my goals. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are a few people whom I would like to thank in helping me write this paper. First is Dr. Daniel Marien, who has been with me on this project since I began and encouraged me to pursue my interest in this area. I would also like to thank both Dr. Kerstin Hamann and Dr. Peter Jacques for feedback throughout this process, enabling improvement upon the final product. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 Competing Ideologies ................................................................................................................. 1 A Modernized Form of Anti-capitalist Discourse ...................................................................... 4 The Soviet Experience ................................................................................................................ 5 Going Forward ............................................................................................................................ 7 The United Socialist Party of Venezuela ................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER 2: EXAMINING VENEZUELA ............................................................................... 12 A Brief Political History of Venezuela ..................................................................................... 12 Scholarly Experts on Venezuela ............................................................................................... 20 Venezuela’s Chavismo and Populism in Comparative Perspective ..................................... 20 Measuring Populist Discourse of Chavismo: Good = The Will of the People ................. 21 Populist Policy: The Missions of the Chávez Government .............................................. 23 The Missions ................................................................................................................. 23 The Revolution in Venezuela: Social and Political Change under Chávez .......................... 25 Venezuela’s Presidential Elections of 2006: Toward 21st Century Socialism? ................ 25 The Venezuelan Economy in the Chávez Years ................................................................... 32 Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution ....................................................................... 35 Dismantling Democracy in Venezuela: The Chávez Authoritarian Experiment .................. 38 The Political Assault on State Powers for Authoritarianism ............................................ 39 Institutional Development Toward Consolidating Authoritarianism ............................... 41 Constitutional Reforms Designed to Consolidate Authoritarianism ................................ 41 Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution ....................................................................... 42 The Real Venezuela: Making Socialism in the 21st Century ................................................ 49 CHAPTER 3: CRITIQUES OF SOCIALISM .............................................................................. 53 The Politics of Socialism .......................................................................................................... 53 The Politics of Socialism ...................................................................................................... 53 The Economics of Socialism ................................................................................................ 57 The Transition to Socialism .................................................................................................. 58 Socialism: The Active Utopia ................................................................................................... 60 Socialist Planning...................................................................................................................... 63 The Economics of Feasible Socialism ...................................................................................... 69 vi Main Currents of Marxism........................................................................................................ 73 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 77 CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS ............................................................................................................ 81 Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s Constitution of 1999 ....................................................... 81 The Blue Book .......................................................................................................................... 94 Concrete Robinsonian Utopia ............................................................................................... 96 The Red Book ........................................................................................................................... 97 Hugo Chávez’s Interview with Larry King (2009) ................................................................. 106 President Maduro’s CNN Interview (2014) ............................................................................ 108 Second Six-Year Economic Plan (2013-2019) ....................................................................... 110 The Program........................................................................................................................ 112 The Fascist Coup Against Venezuela ..................................................................................... 114 Frontline: The Hugo Chávez Show......................................................................................... 121 An Analysis of the Chávez/Maduro Economy ....................................................................... 122 The PSUV and Dunn’s Criticisms .......................................................................................... 127 Political Criticisms of Socialism and PSUV ....................................................................... 127 Economic Criticisms of Socialism and the PSUV .............................................................. 132 Transitory Criticisms and PSUV ........................................................................................ 133 The PSUV and Ellman’s Arguments ...................................................................................... 135 The PSUV and Nove’s Analysis ............................................................................................. 140 A Final Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 142 CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................... 144 Lessons Learned by PSUV ..................................................................................................... 144 Implications............................................................................................................................. 147 Limitations and Future Research ...........................................................................................
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