From Passive to Radical Revolution in Venezuela’s Populist Project

Brading, Ryan

Abstract

In December 2001, Hugo Chávez and others changed Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolutionary project, which consisted of replacing a corrupt and elitist constitution with a fair and popular one, into a radical one. In its early stages the project corresponded to what Gramsci called a “passive revolution.” Attempts by opposition forces to crush the construction of a new populist hegemony (a coup in April 2002 and an indefinite strike in December 2002) were met with popular mobilization that reaffirmed Chávez’s hegemonic project. The radical revolution consisted of social programs designed to alleviate the suffering of the poor and consolidated a new hegemonic structure among Venezuela’s lower classes. The concept of “radical revolution” provides a theoretical alternative for assessing the extent to which a political project can be described as populist.

Citation

Brading, R. (2014). From Passive to Radical Revolution in Venezuela’s Populist Project. Latin American Perspectives, 41(6), 48-64. https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X14521991

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Nov 6, 2014
• Deposit Date: Oct 2, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 25, 2023
• Journal: Latin American Perspectives
• Print ISSN: 0094-582X
• Electronic ISSN: 1552-678X
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 41
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 48-64
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X14521991
• Keywords: Passive Revolution, Bolivarian Revolution, Populism, Hugo Chávez, Luis Miquilena
• Publisher URL: http://lap.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/02/03/0094582X14521991.abstract