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    Socialism equals death, market equals life: anti-socialist and pro-market policy discourse among the contemporary Venezuelan Opposition.


    Cannon, Barry (2021) Socialism equals death, market equals life: anti-socialist and pro-market policy discourse among the contemporary Venezuelan Opposition. Les Cahiers de Framespa (36). ISSN 1760-4761

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    Abstract

    While there has been much coverage in the media and in academic work on the crisis inVenezuela, little has been written about the Venezuelan Opposition, grouped in the DemocraticUnity Coalition (MUD) and even less about their economic and social policies. This paper seeksto address this latter lacuna by providing a critical examination of three key MUD policydocuments. Situating this analysis within a wider discussion on the relationship betweendemocracy and neoliberalism, and using a framework derived from Wendy Brown’s book “In theRuins of Neoliberalism”, the article argues that the Venezuelan Opposition is fundamentallyneoliberal in ideological orientation. This means that it seeks to, paraphrasing Brown, critiqueand dismantle society, using anti-socialism as its principle trope to do so; attack “democracyunderstood as popular sovereignty and shared political power”, even while it uses democracy asits main discursive banner; and extend the personal protected sphere at the expense of the public.This may result, the article concludes, in a form of neoliberal authoritarianism rather than‘restored’ democracy as the Opposition claims.

    Item Type: Article
    Keywords: Venezuela; Venezuelan Opposition (MUD); Socialism; Democracy; Neoliberalism;
    Academic Unit: Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology
    Item ID: 17096
    Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.4000/framespa.10371
    Depositing User: Barry Cannon
    Date Deposited: 04 Apr 2023 14:30
    Journal or Publication Title: Les Cahiers de Framespa
    Refereed: Yes
    URI:
    Use Licence: This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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