IJSSER

Title: DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM: THE CASE OF VENEZUELA
Authors: Sibaditya Pal
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Sibaditya Pal
MLA 8 Pal, Sibaditya. "DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM: THE CASE OF VENEZUELA." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, vol. 6, no. 10, Oct. 2021, pp. 4048-4059, doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2021.v06i10.032. Accessed Oct. 2021. APA 6 Pal, S. (2021, October). DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM: THE CASE OF VENEZUELA. Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, 6(10), 4048-4059. Retrieved from doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2021.v06i10.032 Chicago Pal, Sibaditya. "DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM: THE CASE OF VENEZUELA." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research 6, no. 10 (October 2021), 4048-4059. Accessed October, 2021. doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2021.v06i10.032.
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Abstract: The Venezuelan political and humanitarian crisis, which started just after the global recession of 2008,in the twilight of the tenure of country’s long-serving President Hugo Chavez, and continued thereafter under new leader Nicolas Maduro, posed a serious question about the system of economic organisation and development that Venezuela had adopted after Chavez’s election in 1998. With soaring inflation that had rendered people unable to afford even the most basic amenities required to sustain life, the once vaunted model of democratic socialism which, through policies such as the nationalisation of key industries including the highly profitable oil industry, the constitution of councils for local governance, called Communal Councils, and expansive public expenditure on social welfare programmes that sought to provide greater access to, inter alia, food, housing, healthcare and education, had lowered rates of poverty and metrics for inequality in income and had brought unprecedented economic growth to the country, came under scrutiny. This scrutiny intensified in academic and political circles especially after the oil glut of late 2014 and early 2015, which caused a socio-economic catastrophe for the nation. Considering the same, this project seeks to enquire into the broader contours of the philosophy of democratic socialism, and the economic and social policies that are generally associated with the ideology. Besides, to further the understanding of the ideology, several case studies will be used, most prominently that of Venezuela under Chavez, with the ultimate aim of undertaking a critical analysis of this model of governance by drawing from the successes and failures of precedent administrations.

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