Presenter(s): Garret Simmer—Political Science
Co-Presenter(s): Jon Laus
Faculty Mentor(s): Matthias Vogel
Session 5: It’s a Small World After All
This project highlights the economic policies adopted by the Venezuelan government during and after the 2008 financial crisis and its impacts on the stability of democracy in Venezuela . To gain an understanding of the experience of the populace, we trace news reporting on the crisis in Venezuelan daily publications which we contextualize with reporting from an international perspective and academic publications on economic data and social policy . Our study will illuminate how Venezuelan democracy eroded through the breakdown of institutions following economic collapse . This project’s aims are to identify some of the root causes for the Venezuelan economic crisis and the sustained disparity experienced by the Venezuelan people . We are going to show the connection between economic and political issues and their impact on political efficacy in a democracy . Our results show: as Venezuela’s economy experienced greater economic stress, the government was able to take more drastic action threatening its democracy . Political shifts are often the result of economic fluctuations on the national and international scale . When considering relevant concepts such as globalization, media’s influence, and regional issues, it becomes clear that Venezuela’s backslide into authoritarianism was inextricably linked not only to the national economy but the global economy .