​Pensando Venezuela​.

 

This academic conference is organized by a group of undergraduate and graduate students in an effort to establish a forum for discussing Venezuela's evolution during its recent history.

 

The main goal of this first conference is to analyze the main factors that brought ex-president Hugo Chávez to the Venezuelan presidency, and further led him to carry the transformations that took place during his early mandates.

 

The topics to be exposed throughout the conference will be:

 

- The relevance of the Venezuelan case in a global context, and the influence in the world during the past decades.

 

- The role of the oil industry and of oil dependence in the political evolution of the country during the last three decades, with particular emphasis on the Chavista Revolution.

 

-The profusion of electoral processes and the acute decay of democracy in Venezuela, along with the interaction between elections and the authoritarian nature of Venezuela's regime.

 

-The fear of change, and the role played by Venezuelans’ individual and societal values in the evolution of the country during the Chavez era.

 

-The influence of the country's economic performance on the political evolution of the country.

 

In order to discuss the lessons from our speakers' presentations, and further understand them given the current context of Venezuela's state of affairs, we have planned an interactive panel discussion with all of the speakers to close the conference. Although all the talks will have time allocated for questions from the audience, this panel will also be an opportunity for guests to ask about other topics that were not necessarily covered throughout the day.

 

By planning this initiative, our main desire is to further understand Venezuela's experience so as to draw lessons that can help the Venezuelan people move forward!

 

We look forward to seeing you the day of the conference, although we also hope to potentially repeat this event in the upcoming years.