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The Collapse of Venezuela documents Venezuela’s economic implosion as politicians adopted strategies that severely harmed the economy in their struggle for power.
Between 2012 and 2020, Venezuela suffered the largest economic contraction ever documented outside of wartime. This collapse was caused not just by the failure of an economic model but also the deeper failure of its political system to manage the conflicts inherent to a polarized society. The Collapse of Venezuela argues that when the stakes of power are high, politicians have an incentive to adopt political strategies that directly harm the economy. Author Francisco Rodríguez describes these scorched earth strategies and shows how politicians used these methods to target the Venezuelan economy in their fight for power. Ultimately, the conflicting sides have trapped the economy in a catastrophic stalemate that has destroyed the country’s living standards and turned the economy into a political battlefield.
By charting Venezuela’s experience with scorched earth politics, Rodríguez reveals an essential cautionary tale for other democracies around the globe.
“The Collapse of Venezuela is the definitive account of the collapse of the Venezuelan economy. Rodríguez provides not only a page-turning play-by-play of the economic policy decisions that destroyed more than 70 percent of Venezuela’s GDP but also a startling new theory of economically destructive political conflict.” —Dorothy Kronick, University of California, Berkeley
"In charting the catastrophic economic collapse of his native Venezuela, Rodríguez, a political economist, combines technical expertise with insider insights from his years in public service." —Foreign Affairs
"A novel and insightful account of one of the most remarkable economic and political breakdowns in recent history. . . . Rodriguez’s book, which includes a blueprint for major institutional reforms, is essential reading as the U.S. steps up its efforts to oust the Maduro regime, with little apparent planning for what might come next." —Responsible Statecraft
Francisco Rodríguez is the Rice Family Professor of the Practice of International and Public Affairs at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies. He is the co-editor of Venezuela before Chávez: Anatomy of an Economic Collapse.
Preface
Part 1. The Political Economy of Economic Collapse
1. How Economies Self-Destruct
2. The Great Contraction
3. Scorched Earth Politics
Part 2. The Unraveling of Venezuela’s Populist Experiment, 2012-2015
4. Populism Unplugged
5. Enter Maduro
6. Living Dangerously
7. Elections, The Stakes of Power, and Economic Policies
Part 3. The Descent Into Economically Destructive Political Conflict, 2016-2020
8. Becoming Toxic
9. Sanctioning Venezuela
10. Politicians Without Borders
Part 4. Extending the Framework
11. Scorched Earth Politics Beyond Venezuela
12. Venezuela Beyond Scorched Earth Politics
References