Venezuela: Democracy Hangs On

President Hugo Cháez's regime demonstrates how a public desire for change plus state resources can be exploited to undermine democracy.

The historical record since 1945 gives us a picture of how populists operate once they hold political power. The record shows that populism is inimical to liberal democracy, and not…

His regime has hung onto power despite setbacks that would have toppled most democratic governments. Beside pure repression, Maduro has developed new autocratic tools that have kept Venezuela’s authoritarian state…