Authoritarianism In Venezuela

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Pages: 3

Leverage and linkage are not the only factors that bring Venezuela either closer, or farther away, from democracy. Intentional and domestic factors can play a huge role in the maintaining of a competitive authoritarian regime that is verging on authoritarianism. The Maduro administration had managed to change Venezuela’s governing system from a competitive authoritarian regime to a fully authoritarian one. Within domestic affairs, competitiveness in elections was abolished. In 2006, Chavez was able to defeat his opponent by an overwhelming 63 percent of the vote. However, since then, the opposition has been gaining influence and power, giving them more of an advantage in the polls. In 2012, the last election that Chavez ever participated in, his approval rating went down and he only managed to get 55 percent of the vote. After his death, however, the decline in popularity of the ruling party on began to intensify (“Autocratic Legalism in Venezuela”, 45).
Maduro only managed to only win by 51 percent in the 2013 presidential election and his approval ratings just
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Venezuela managed to make ties with China, Russia, Iran, Syria, and Libya, using those relationships to motivate authoritarian goals that pertain to the economy and business relationships. If Western states were to threaten to withhold business between themselves and Venezuela until they loosened their authoritarian control, Venezuela would turn to those countries instead. Since the fall of oil prices and economy in Venezuela under Maduro’s rule, Maduro had to change the way that Venezuela communicated with their allies in order to keep the support of those countries. However, this notion just further solidifies the fact that Maduro has no intention of democratizing and relying on Western countries for help (“(“Autocratic Legalism in Venezuela”,