User:FefeliceUva/sandbox

= Democratic Backsliding =

Venezuela
From 1958 onwards, Venezuela was considered to be a relatively stable democracy within a continent that was facing a wave of military dictatorship, consuming almost all Latin-American countries in the 1970s. Additionally, until the early 1980s, it was proclaimed to be one of Latin-America's four most prosperous states; with an upper-middle economy, and a stable centre-left politics democracy. Regardless, later in the 1980s, the oil market collapsed, leaving Latin-America's prominent crude oil possessor in great debt. Implementing neoliberal, market-oriented strategies in order to receive monetary aid from the International Monetary Fund resulted in cuts in the spending on social programs, and put price controls on consumer goods and gas. The combination of these measures caused great public riots, lacking the ability to improve the economic recession, resulting in the country plunging into further chaos, leaving the inflation rate unmanageable. Hugo Chávez ran for president in December 1998, after seeing the citizen's cry for change. He managed to do so successfully, capturing 93 percent of the votes in that presidential election, by effectively anticipating on the desires of the poor. Regardless of the democratic reputation Venezuela upheld for the past decennia, Chávez began securing his power by creating an authoritarian regime, following a relatively stable pattern between 1999 and 2003. Though winning over eligible voters by promising economic reforms, Hugo Chávez started rewriting the constitution swiftly after arriving in-office. Discarding institutions from their power one by one, slowly but surely corrupting the government, transforming Venezuela into a personal dictatorship. Nicolás Maduro pursued this governance after Chávez' death in 2013. The transition from a relatively stable centre-left democracy, to a personal dictatorship, exemplifies democratic backsliding in essence. More specifically, rather than seizing power through an active coup, bypassing the constitution legally and eliminating democracy-sustaining institutions allowed Chávez to justify the overstepping of his executive boundaries, and, therefore, democratic erosion. This 'modern coup' depicts the phenomenon of executive aggrandizement in practice.

In 2003, crude oil prices rapidly increased, entailing economic growth in Venezuela, as they still possessed large crude oil reserves. This sudden economic growth brought a sense of relief amongst Venezuelan citizens, who respectively came to increasingly trust and support Hugo Chávez. This is evident from the electoral victories his party had since 2004, winning 63 percent of the votes in his last election. In the meantime, Chávez had gained full authority over the democracy-sustaining institutions that ensured the compliance of checks and balances on political leaders and their respective parties, under which the National Assembly (Venezuela) in 2005. Accusing traditional parties from causing the initial economic distress through exploitation of the country, he justified the weakening of non-executive branches by arguing that those branches were dominated by the traditional parties, and therefore unreliable. After enabling himself to legally rewrite the constitution and therewith amending a presidential term from five to six years, with a single reelection, Chávez gained full control over the military branch. This allowed him to determine military promotions, and eliminate the Senate. As a result he no longer required legislative approval.

Currently, Venezuela is depicted as an authoritarian regime, and even a personal dictatorship. Hugo Chávez' measures have been pursued by Nicolás Maduro during his reign, and exemplify democratic backsliding.