Foreign and Internal Changes in Venezuela under "chavismo" Governments

This bachelor thesis focuses on the analysis of economic, foreign and internal changes in Venezuela. The main aims of the thesis are to assess to what extent Hugo Chávez turned away from the previous era of the democracy of Punto Fijo and to explain which changes brought the new president Nicolas Maduro. The first chapter is theoretical and defines the division of political systems with a focus on the characteristics of Latin-American presidential systems. The second chapter focuses on the differences between the era of democracy of Punto Fijo and chavismo. The third chapter presents Venezuelan oil cycles which have an immense impact on an economic situation of the country, but also on the foreign policy. Further, the thesis analyses the government´s relations with the opposition and the armed forces. The conclusion of the analysis is that Hugo Chávez changed mainly the political environment, in economy he continued with an ISI policy and deepened the dependence on oil. His successor Nicolas Maduro faces to many problems. Venezuela is in a severe economic and political crisis for several years. The new president has to maintain the loyalty of the army at the cost of the growth of its political power. The invigorated opposition stands against Maduro and holds the majority in the National Assembly.