The Fall of Venezuela: History, Theories of Development and Change, Authoritarianism, and Impact on American National Security

Running head: POLITICAL SCIENCE
Political Science
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1POLITICAL SCIENCE
Introduction
Venezuela, which was renowned as one of the richest countries in South America,
currently has the highest inflation rate and is plagued by valance and hunger. The country is
running out of food, hospitals are overcrowded while healthcare professionals do not possess
enough medical equipment and medicines. The residents are also suffering from lack of
electricity. Currently, the country possesses more oil than Saudi Arabia and more poverty than
Colombia. Thus it can be clearly understood that the economy has spiraled toward collapse, and
a humanitarian crisis has plunged hordes into needless sickness and starvation. The economic
deterioration started when the ex-president of the country Late Hugo Chavez set out to use an oil
boom in order to follow a socialist path that would lead to prosperity, not only to Venezuela but
also for the whole of Latin America. However, in 2014, the price of oil fell sharply leading to a
disaster and this has given birth to the current inflation. The current president of Venezuela,
Nicolas Maduro is unable to handle the current situation and as a result economic
mismanagement, political oppression and corruption is vague in Venezuela. In this report, the
history behind the fall of Venezuela, theories and development of change, effect of globalization,
Authoritarianism and impact of the failure on American National Security has been discussed in
the report.
Discussion:
The Historical reason behind the fall of Venezuela
In the year 1970, Venezuela had the lowest inequality rate as well as the highest growth
rate in Latin America. Due to the oil bonanza, from the year 1974 to 1979 the country had the
highest per capita GDP (Laqueur 2017). However, as discussed earlier, the present economic

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condition of Venezuela is terrible. Resource curse and excessive oil dependency can be defined
as two most crucial reasons behind the present condition of the country. During the time span
ranging from 1958 to 1998, the country stated suffering from resource curse, where instead of
aiding development, the ample mineral wealth of the country was undermined constructive social
as well as political development. At that time the country s being ruled by the fourth republic,
whose restrictive as well as unrepresentative attitude dissatisfied the voters of Venezuela and as a
result in1998 the opted for the promises made by Hugo Chavez and who became the president of
Venezuela that year. Chavez started to radically change the politics as well as the economics of
Venezuela without resolving the underlying political and economic issues. He started ambient
attitude towards liberal democracy, free spending even during the economic crisis and
astonishing economic mismanagement by the government results in today's crisis.
Theories of development and change
In this section, various theories associated with the development and change of
Venezuela has been discussed. The rent seeking theory is a well-known theory which is applied
by eminent politicians in order to improve the capacity as well as governance of Venezuela.
According to this theory, an overly centralized, Soviet-style public authority along with
excessive discretion and state intervention resulting due to oil abundance is causing growth
restricting as well as production restricting corruption and rent seeking (Omeje 2017). The theory
also stated that excessive corruption and state-created rent in the country is the major reason that
hinders development and change in Venezuela. The chief aim of economic liberation, as stated
by the mentioned theory is to reduce the discretionary centralized authority of state leaders to
create rents. Another theory, namely, the Capability theory states that weak state can manage
their economy better by intervening less. However, according to researchers, the mentioned