Venezuelan socialism: A political culture in its way out?

Abstract

Although widely acknowledged as an explanatory variable in the study of states’ foreign policies, political culture still tends to be neglected by foreign policy analysts. In this article it will be argued that the Socialism of the XXI century implemented by Hugo Chávez in Venezuela since 1999, although, in a sense, a whole new political culture, fits Latin America traditional bet for caudillos and Venezuelan typical use of oil in foreign affairs, highlighting that its eventual ending may not change these characteristics of the Venezuelan original way of doing politics.