The underlying thesis presented by Thomas Ponniah and Jonathan Eastwood is that diverse viewpoints on the polemical government of Hugo Chávez are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and may even complement one another. Their argument serves to justify the selection of contributors for the book which, in the words of Eastwood in his introductory essay, ‘embodies the heterogeneity of scholarly views about contemporary Venezuela’. He goes on to point out that the volume represents ‘a sort of experiment insofar as it aims to construct a narrative out of contrasting views’ (p. 17). In the conclusion Ponniah deepens the argument by characterising Chavismo as ‘veined with destabilizing contradictions’ (p. 293). Ponniah synthesises different positions which on the one hand praise Chavismo's promotion of participatory democracy, but on the other warn of the centralisation of rule and the unrestrained power of President Chávez. Even if Chavismo does not succeed in retaining power, however, the basic principles formulated by it will have a long-term impact in that they are ‘helping articulate a new Latin American left’ (p. 293). Ponniah concludes by questioning the simplistic notion, associated with Jorge Castañeda among others, that Chavismo is the epitome of a bad or ‘immoderate’ Left (p. 291), thus ignoring the complexity of political developments under Chávez.
Two diametrically opposed positions, one defended by the authors of three chapters and the other in an essay by Javier Corrales, are represented in the book. Mark Weisbrot attempts to refute the claim that the accelerated economic expansion after 2003 was the result solely of the spike in oil prices, and that a subsequent downturn in the international market will set off an economic and social catastrophe, as occurred with the boom–bust cycles of the past. He is optimistic about the government's future prospects, particularly if it follows Keynesian policies, such as the implementation of a ‘stimulus package’ (p. 215). Gregory Wilpert's chapter on participatory democracy provides a broader context for controversial government decisions which drew criticisms of violation of democratic rights and practices. Thus, for instance, the government's political appointments to the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and its non-renewal of concessions to the Radio Caracas television channel ‘were a consequence of polarization and illegal opposition activity, not its cause’ (p. 124). A third pro-Chávez essay, written by Carles Muntaner, Haejoo Chung and Qamar Mahmood, deals with health care. The authors argue that ‘broad-based community participation’ in health programmes is ‘part of an ideological struggle’ to transform values, and may even provide ‘important insights to help marginalised communities in the United States increase their access to quality health services’ (p. 252).
Corrales' essay attributes the intense polarisation in Venezuela to a strategy of Chavista ‘power grabs’ (p. 70) that began with, and had as their most prominent initial expression, the process of the promulgation of the new Constitution in 1999. The ‘Chávez administration’, according to Corrales, ‘discovered early on the political payoffs of polarization and soon became its most important promoter’ (pp. 67–8). His thesis, however, ignores the fact that polarisation first occurred on the eve of the presidential elections of 1998, when the two major parties, Acción Democrática (Democratic Action, AD) and Copei (Comité de Organización Política Electoral Independiente, Committee of Independent Political Electoral Organization), withdrew support for their respective candidates in order to form a united front to block Chávez's election. Furthermore, it could be argued that the opposition's overtly illegal actions in the 2002 coup, the general strike of 2002–3 and the violent street tactics known as the guarimba (2004) did more to set off polarisation than the ratification of the Constitution by 72 per cent of the votes, which the opposition in subsequent years actually defended. Corrales' central argument, based on scholarly theoretical literature including rational choice approaches, is marred by assertions that are poorly documented. He states, for instance, that one ‘strategy … Chávez has deployed is corruption and impunity for those friends of the government engaged in corruption’, a scheme he describes as one of the ‘pillars of Chavismo in office’ (p. 82). His major source for this sweeping statement, however, is a book written by a hard-line member of the Venezuelan opposition and published by the Cato Institute in Washington.
The other chapters in the book present a more even-handed treatment of the Chávez government. Topics include the 2002 coup (Fernando Coronil), the 2006 presidential elections (Margarita López Maya and Luis Lander), women's rights (Cathy Rakowski and Gioconda Espina) and foreign policy (Mark Eric Williams).
In contrast to The Revolution in Venezuela, which lacks a central focus, Electing Chávez centres on the attitudes of business people toward Chávez and the political role they played, while at the same time formulating several basic theses. Leslie Gates poses two intriguing questions, or what she calls ‘puzzles’. First, how can Chávez's election in 1998 be explained, given the fact that his rivals also articulated an anti-corruption, anti-establishment discourse to appeal to the discontented voters who constituted the Chavista base? In response, Gates affirms that Venezuelans were repulsed not so much by widespread corruption in general (nor were they principally motivated by anti-neoliberal convictions per se), but by the flagrantly unethical practices of business interests and their increasing influence in government policy-making. Chávez's dual pledge of opposition to neoliberalism and corruption resonated more among Venezuelan voters critical of the private sector than the rhetoric of clean government of the ‘businessman-turned politician’, Henrique Salas Römer (p. 27), who came in second place.
In her discussion of the first ‘puzzle’, Gates enters into detail about two scandals that were among the worst in Venezuelan history: the illicit purchase of ‘preferential dollars’ in the 1980s and the financial crisis of 1993–4. Another development which Gates would have done well to have incorporated into her chapter, ‘The Sources of Anti-Business Sentiment’, was the failure of Venezuelan capitalists to resist foreign penetration of the Venezuelan economy in the 1980s and particularly the 1990s, when privatised companies were bought out almost exclusively by multinationals.
Gates labels the second question the ‘business assistance puzzle’ (p. 11). She asks why some businessmen supported Chávez in 1998 in spite of his anti-neoliberal rhetoric. Gates discards the possibility that they were mainly motivated by Chávez's protectionist programme. She argues that the alleged partiality of the previous president, Rafael Caldera, in favour of some bankers during the financial crisis he inherited in 1994 left an indelible mark on members of the private sector. Business people who supported Chávez in 1998 did so out of fear that their rivals who endorsed Salas Römer would be favoured by the latter's victory, at their expense.
Gates' findings have mixed implications for the petro-state theories that figure prominently in the scholarly literature on Venezuela. She shows that in 1998 the private sector prioritised access to oil-derived state revenue over ideological considerations in favour of either protectionism or neoliberalism. This pattern would corroborate the petro-state thesis: this postulates the corrupting influence of oil revenue on the state, which ends up becoming all-powerful, to the detriment of societal autonomy. Gates' book, however, diverges from much of the scholarship on Venezuela in fundamental ways. Most important, she criticises specialists on Venezuela who ‘characterise Venezuela's business community as being vulnerable to the whims of state bureaucrats wielding discretionary authority over the state's vast resources … or as the unwilling handmaidens of power-hungry political party bosses engaged in internecine power struggles' (p. 134). In short, Gates' focus and original propositions go beyond the limitations of Weberian analyses that prioritise the role of state bureaucrats with abundant oil-derived resources and scapegoat them for the failures of Venezuelan democracy. Her book is a welcome corrective to scholarly and non-scholarly writing that depicts business people as victims and in doing so passes over the anti-business attitude of Venezuelans, which is fundamental to understanding the Chávez phenomenon.
