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AN ANALYSIS OF VENEZUELA’S ANTI-GLOBALIST DISCOURSE AND TRANSITION FROM WORLD’S RICHEST TO WORLD’S POOREST GROUP AUTHORS: FREJA SOFIE SCHNEDLER ROSENDAHL MARIANNE QVISTGAARD HANSEN COPENHAGEN BUSINESS SCHOOL MA INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS SPANISH & AMERICAN STUDIES SUBMISSION DATE: SEPTEMBER 15, 2017 SUPERVISOR: CARLOS SALAS LIND NUMBER OF PAGES: 117,5 CHARACTERS: 267.307 ROSENDAHL & QVISTGAARD, 2017 AN ANALYSIS OF VENEZUELA’S ANTI-GLOBALIST DISCOURSE AND TRANSITION FROM WORLD’S RICHEST TO WORLD’S POOREST ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank our supervisor Carlos Salas Lind for his knowledge on the subject and professional guidance. Furthermore, a big hug and thanks to our families, friends and partners Thomas Andrew Jepps and Lærke Katrine Taidal for proofreading our thesis and giving valuable comments, and for their understanding, patience and critical eyes throughout this long and challenging process. 2 ROSENDAHL & QVISTGAARD, 2017 AN ANALYSIS OF VENEZUELA’S ANTI-GLOBALIST DISCOURSE AND TRANSITION FROM WORLD’S RICHEST TO WORLD’S POOREST LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AD - Acción Democrática (Democratic Action) ALBA - Alianza Bolivariana Para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) BB - Billion barrels Bbl - Barrel or barrels BRIC(S) - Association of major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. CAP - Carlos Andrés Pérez (President of Venezuela 1974-1979 & 1989-1993) CELAC - Community of Latin American and Caribbean States CIA WF - Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook COPEI - Comité de Organización Política Electoral Independiente (Social Christian Party) CTV - Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela (Federation of labor unions in Venezuela) EU - European Union FDI - Foreign Direct Investment FTA - Free Trade Agreement FTAA - Free Trade Agreement of the Americas GD - Great Depression GDP - Gross Domestic Product G7 - Group of Seven - summit of seven of the world’s most powerful economies. Currently consists of: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, European Union. IMF - International Monetary Fund ISI - Import Substitution Industrialisation MERCOSUR - Mercado Común del Sur MVR - Movimiento Quinta República (Fifth Republic Movement) NAFTA - The North American Free Trade Agreement NRT - New Regionalism Theory NSC - North-South cooperation OAS - Organization of American States OEC - The Observatory of Economic Complexity OECD - Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OPEC - Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries PCV - Partido Comunista de Venezuela (Communist Party of Venezuela) PDVSA - Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. 3 ROSENDAHL & QVISTGAARD, 2017 AN ANALYSIS OF VENEZUELA’S ANTI-GLOBALIST DISCOURSE AND TRANSITION FROM WORLD’S RICHEST TO WORLD’S POOREST PSUV - Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (United Socialist Party of Venezuela) PTA - Peoples’ Trade Agreement RTA - Regional Trade Agreement SSC - South-South cooperation TCC - transnational capitalist class TI - Transparency International UNASUR - Unión de Naciones Suramericanos UNOSSC - United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation US - United States (of America) USCIS - United States Citizenship and Immigration Services USD - American dollar WB - World Bank WC - Washington Consensus WEC - World Economic Forum WSF - World Social Forum WTO - World Trade Organization WW1 - First World War WW2 - Second World War 4 ROSENDAHL & QVISTGAARD, 2017 AN ANALYSIS OF VENEZUELA’S ANTI-GLOBALIST DISCOURSE AND TRANSITION FROM WORLD’S RICHEST TO WORLD’S POOREST ABSTRACT Venezuela var i 2001 det land med de største oliereserver i verden, og landet blev dengang regnet for at være Sydamerikas rigeste. Imidlertid kollapsede markedet for råolie i 2014, hvilket har haft katastrofale konsekvenser for det olieafhængige land, og det har resulteret i et splittet samfund med borgerkrigslignende tilstande. I dag, blot 16 år senere, er landet derfor plaget af hyperinflation, daglige demonstrationer og mangel på basale fornødenheder såsom mad og medicin. Dette speciale har til formål at undersøge, hvordan verdens mest olierige land er havnet i en så omfattende krise, og hvorvidt den siddende regerings anti-globale diskurs har påvirket landets nuværende økonomiske situation. Til at udarbejde en dybdegående besvarelse på problemformuleringen er der anvendt en bred vifte af sekundær litteratur i form af videnskabelige artikler, rapporter og analyser fra anerkendte internationale instanser. Ud fra undersøgelsen kan det konkluderes, at Venezuela i stigende grad har forsømt deres landbrugssektor, siden de begyndte at producere råolie, hvilket har resulteret i en økonomi, der er yderst sårbar over for de svingende oliepriser. Dertil har Venezuela undladt at stimulere udviklingen af andre erhverv og gøre landet mere økonomisk stabilt. Den nuværende økonomiske krise har dermed rødder, der strækker sig længere tilbage end den bolivarianske revolution, mens regeringens anti-globale diskurs og åbenlyse anti-amerikanske retorik har forværret situationen yderligere. 5 ROSENDAHL & QVISTGAARD, 2017 AN ANALYSIS OF VENEZUELA’S ANTI-GLOBALIST DISCOURSE AND TRANSITION FROM WORLD’S RICHEST TO WORLD’S POOREST TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2 LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS 3 ABSTRACT 5 1. INTRODUCTION 8 1.1. RESEACH QUESTION 9 1.2. RESEARCH MOTIVATION 9 1.3. CHAPTER OVERVIEW 10 2. METHODOLOGY 11 2.1. RESEARCH APPROACH 11 2.1.1. PHILOSOPHICAL PARADIGM 11 2.1.2. ONTOLOGY 12 2.1.3. EPISTEMOLOGY 13 2.2. THE CASE STUDY APPROACH 14 2.2.1. NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF THE CASE STUDY APPROACH 15 2.3. LITERATURE REVIEW 15 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 17 3.1. THE WASHINGTON CONSENSUS – A NEOLIBERAL THEORY 17 3.1.1. THE WASHINGTON CONSENSUS IN LATIN AMERICA 19 3.2. DEFINING THE POLITICAL LEFT 20 3.2.1 THE TWO LEFTS 21 3.3. GLOBALISATION THEORY 22 3.3.1. THE HYPERGLOBALISTS 23 3.3.2. THE SCPETICS 24 3.3.3. THE TRANSFORMATIONALISTS 24 3.3.4. NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF GLOBALISATION THEORY 26 3.4. ANTI-AMERICANISM 26 3.5. NEW REGIONALISM THEORY 27 3.6. REGIONAL INTEGRATION 28 3.7. THE CONCEPT OF SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION 29 4. FROM COFFEE PRODUCING TO OIL DEPENDENT 30 4.1. HISTORICAL CONTEXT 30 4.2. EL PACTO PUNTO FIJO: STABILITY AND CONTINUITY 34 4.3. VENEZUELA SAUDITA 35 4.4. PARTY SYSTEM IN DISARRAY 37 4.5. THE WASHINGTON CONSENSUS: A WAY OUT? 38 4.6. SUB-CONSCLUSION 42 5. FROM NEOLIBERALISM TO BOLIVARIANISM 44 5.1. THE RISE OF CHÀVEZ 44 5.2. THE RADICAL LEFT 45 5.3. SOCIALISM OF THE 21ST CENTURY 46 5.4. WHY TURNING LEFT? 48 6 ROSENDAHL & QVISTGAARD, 2017 AN ANALYSIS OF VENEZUELA’S ANTI-GLOBALIST DISCOURSE AND TRANSITION FROM WORLD’S RICHEST TO WORLD’S POOREST 5.5. SUB-CONCLUSION 49 6. ANALYSIS: THE FIGHT AGAINST NEOLIBERALISM 50 6.1. US DEMOCRACY PROMOTION IN LATIN AMERICA 50 6.1.1. WESTERN INTERPELLATION OF THE MEDIA 51 6.2. SEALING OFF THE ECONOMY? 53 6.3. SUB-CONCLUSION 57 7. ANALYSIS: REGIONALISM, COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT 59 7.1. INTEGRATION PROJECTS 59 7.1.1. THE BOLLIVARIAN ALLIANCE FOR POEPLES OF OUR AMERICA 62 7.1.2. THE RESULT: MERELY A PATCHWORK OF COMPETING PROJECTS? 67 7.1.3. HINDRANCES TO REGIONAL INTEGRATION 68 7.2. REGIONAL INITIATIVES INDUCED BY VENEZUELA 69 7.3. VENEZUELA AND SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION 72 7.3.1. CHINA IN VENEZUELA 72 7.3.2. VENEZUELA OUTSIDE THE HEMISPHERE 73 7.4. SUB-CONCLUSION 75 8. THE PETRO-STATE 77 8.1. UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OIL AND VENEZUELA 77 8.2. CHÀVEZ, PDVSA AND NATIONALISATIONS 81 8.3. ANALYSING VENEZUELA’S PETRO-DIPLOMACY AND THE ROLE OF OPEC 85 8.3.1. PETROAMÈRICA 87 8.4. PRESIDENT MADURO AND OIL TODAY 89 8.5. DISCUSSING HOW VENEZUELA CAN OVERCOME ITS DUTCH DISEASE 94 8.5.1. DIVERSIFICATION 95 8.5.2. INVESTMENT 99 8.5.3. MISMANGEMENT AND CORRUPTION 101 8.5.4. LIBERALISATION OF MARKETS 104 8.6. SUB-CONCLUSION 106 9. DISCUSSION 108 10. COMPARISON: CHÀVEZ AND MADURO TO TRUMP 115 11. CONCLUSION 117 11.1. EVALUATION OF THE METHODOLOGY 119 12. BIBLIOGRAPHY 120 13. APPENDICES 129 13.1. APPENDIX A: VENEZUELA TIMELINE 129 13.2. APPENDIX B: INT. INSTITUTIONS OPPOSING VENEZUELA’S POLITICAL PRISONERS 132 7 ROSENDAHL & QVISTGAARD, 2017 AN ANALYSIS OF VENEZUELA’S ANTI-GLOBALIST DISCOURSE AND TRANSITION FROM WORLD’S RICHEST TO WORLD’S POOREST 1. INTRODUCTION Twelve years ago, at the 5th World Social Forum in Brazil, the support of an experiment called 21st century socialism in Venezuela was announced by late-president Hugo Chávez. This experiment was initiated as a political project concerning southern unity, integration and fighting inequality; however, it has become, what most scholars currently call, a failed state with dictatorship resembling conditions, sky high inflation rates and starvation. Nevertheless, the leader of the new national Constituent Assembly, Delcy Rodriguez, supported by the Venezuelan president, stated in September 2017: “I have denied and continue denying that Venezuela has a humanitarian crisis” (Newman, 2017). This rather unconvincing statement contradicts the reality of what is happening in Venezuela. Specifically, over the past year, 75 percent of the Venezuelan population have lost an average of 8.7 kilos and more than 2.675 demonstrations have taken place between April 1 and June 1, 2017 (an average of 33 protests per day), as conflicts are accelerating between the Venezuelan neoliberalists and the devoted socialist supporters of Chavismo and the Bolivarian dream creating civil war-like conditions (Almagro, 2017). For many observers, this catastrophe seemed unthinkable as fifty years ago Venezuela was
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