Title: The Rigidity of Democratic Institutions and the Current Legitimacy Crisis in Venezuela
Abstract:Differential loyalty to democratic norms is the result of the capitalist context in which the political rules exist. A number of scholars concerned with the link between economics and politics, includ...Differential loyalty to democratic norms is the result of the capitalist context in which the political rules exist. A number of scholars concerned with the link between economics and politics, including Jturgen Habermas, Claus Offe, and James O'Connor, suggest that it is impossible to speak of a purely political crisis of the state because the state is contained within an economic system (Held and Krieger, 1983). Thus, one cannot study democratic legitimacy or its crises except as a subset of capitalist legitimacy and its crises. In fact, legitimacy crises come about precisely because the state finds it difficult to reconcile highly inegalitarian capital accumulation processes with its democratic pretensions. The rigidity of the institutions established in Venezuela magnified and made even more obvious this inherent conflict. Rules, procedures, and institutional arrangements are in large part a reflection of the groups responsible for the political system's original construction. Thus, political norms, even democratic ones, reflect the power inequities that exist in a given society. Political institutions are not, however, just the reflection of other explanatory variables. They shape future relativeRead More
Publication Year: 1996
Publication Date: 1996-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 26
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