Crowding Out the Opposition in Venezuela

In the Corrales & Penfold-Becerra article for this week they discuss Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s continuous power grabbing from around 2005 to around the publication of this article in 2007. During his presidency, Venezuela had a fairly weak system of…

The Left Turn

  During the late 20th century and early 21st century, many Latin American nations saw a dramatic shift leftwards in their elections. This wave of left-wing victories began in 1998 with the election of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, and over…

The Importance of Strong Political Parties

The reading for this week by Levitsky and Cameron discusses the importance of political parties in Latin America, and I agree with the major points made in the article. Levitsky and Cameron that strong political parties are what help keep…