Paper short abstract:

The "Bolivarian revolution" in Venezuela challenges the traditional dichotomy between reform and revolution. Popular mobilisation, elections and governmental action have partially transformed and replaced the existing state. This paper will examine the debate on this process and its implications.

Paper long abstract:

Marxist scholars and activists have generally adhered to the Leninist view that to create socialism the bourgeois state must be destroyed and replaced, not merely reformed. However in Venezuela the "Bolivarian revolution" has proceeded through a combination of elections, mass mobilisations and reforms in which both popular pressure and governmental policies have continuously assaulted, undermined and transformed the institutions of the "Fourth Republic", while attempting to create new, parallel institutions which displace or substitute for existing structures. There is a growing body of literature by Venezuelans and others which analyses and theorises these processes: authors such as Carlos Lanz, Victor Alvarez and Michael Lebowitz have made important contributions. This paper will summarise the debate and suggest new lines of enquiry.