Petroleum and Political Pacts: The Transition to Democracy in Venezuela
Author(s)
Karl, Terry Lynn
Abstract
The Venezuelan experience of regime transformation in 1958 yields important lessons. If this familiar story is retold from a new perspective focusing on the interaction between petroleum and political pacts, it can illuminate the dynamic relationship between structure and statecraft in moments of regime transition. This relationship is the focus of a central debate in political analysis: To what extent is a successful democratic outcome the product of structurally determined factors arising from the world capitalist economy, the international system of states, or the process of dependent development — that is to say, of factors beyond the control of political actors in late-developing countries.
