Venezuelan Political Culture

Tension Between Personalism and Institutionalism at the Turn of the Century

Abstract

Based on a conception of political culture as a dynamic historical phenomenon that shapes—without dictating—social attitudes, norms, and beliefs toward politics in close relation to institutions and citizen participation, this essay reviews how primary and personalistic relationships have historically prevailed in Venezuela over impersonal and institutional norms, a phenomenon intensified in a rentier state economy with a dysfunctional public administration. The process of deinstitutionalization and polarization in the 1980s and 1990s —economic crisis, the social outbreak known as the Caracazo, coup attempts, and the collapse of the two-party system, culminating in the election of Hugo Chávez in 1998 and the extreme personalization of politics, is analyzed. Surveys from the late 20^th century, as reported by the Academia, showed a tendency among Venezuelans towards encouraging messianic and hardline solutions. It is concluded that the radical changes introduced in 1998 are embedded in these preexisting cultural frameworks: Chavista rhetoric resonated precisely because it articulated the substantive values that Venezuelans associate with democracy, prioritizing the vote and social policies over institutional checks and balances.