Strong Parties and Lame Ducks: Presidential Partyarchy and Factionalism in Venezuela

This bold and comprehensive re-assessment of democracy in Venezuela explains why one of the oldest and most admired democracies in Latin America is in danger of collapsing after more than three decades of apparent stability. The author locates the causes of Venezuela’s current problems in two political institutions. The first is partyarchy, the overwhelming influence of political parties over the legislature, interest groups, the media, and the courts. The second cause is presidentialism, a system marked by a standoff between the executive and the legislature.