The Unraveling of Representative Democracy in Venezuela

6 Intellectuals: An Elite Divided

c h a p t e r s i x Intellectuals An Elite Divided Richard S. Hillman Comprehensive examination of a political regime in the ‘‘gray zone’’ (Carothers , 2002; Myers and McCoy, 2003) requires analyzing diverse inputs from its environment (Easton, 1966). This chapter addresses the role of writers, journalists, and scholars, whose engagement in opinion formation by articulating positions on political issues defines them as intellectuals or members of the intelligentsia—an elite group that influences mass political perspectives. Theories of political legitimacy and elite settlements provide a framework for examining the role of intellectuals in political change. These theories view the informal political processes of demand making by weakly organized groups, such as intellectuals, as important complements to interest articulations by formal institutions in the policy-making process (Diamond, Hartlyn, and Linz, 1999; Klarén and Bossert, 1986; Wiarda and Kline, 1996). Weakly organized groups have been shown on occasion to play an important role in encouraging cooperative behavior among elites (Higley and Burton, 1989; Lijphart, 1984; Peeler, 1989). Intellectuals can provide ideological justifications for courses of action which hitherto have been perceived as unacceptable or impossible (Dahl, 1971; Huntington, 1991). Conversely, intellectual opposition 116 Richard S. Hillman that contributes to negative perceptions of the existing rules of the political game has a delegitimizing e√ect that can lead to institutional decay. The Venezuelan case raises important questions about the relationship between intellectuals and political change: Did the Venezuelan intelligentsia as a group craft negative portrayals of post-1958 democracy which contributed to its unraveling? Did this group make it impossible to transform that regime into a more representative polyarchy? Have Venezuelan intellectuals provided a coherent ideological underpinning for chavismo? These are important question to which we hope to provide some preliminary answers. Intellectuals in Historical Perspective Social commentary by intellectuals has contributed a variety of perspectives to the Venezuelan political landscape. Venezuelan intellectuals have been policy makers, critical outsiders, voices for the powerless, and spokespeople for repressive power structures. Their roles and views are diverse. They do not fit into neat categories. Historically the intelligentsia has been an important element in Venezuelan political dynamics. Pensadores Simón Bolívar and Andrés Bello provide characteristic testimony to the nineteenth-century preoccupation with the clash between liberty and authority (Martz and Myers, 1983: 226-27). Struggling with contradictions between democratic theory and traditional Hispanic political culture, these thinkers belonged to an intellectual milieu that included a variety of often conflicting ideologies. In the twentieth century some intellectuals advocated authoritarianism, and others spoke on behalf of democracy. Laureano Vallenilla Lanz’s (1983) Cesarismo Democrático explained away Juan Vicente Gómez’s brutal dictatorship as necessary to end decades of internecine strife. Novelist Rómulo Gallegos’s Doña Bárbara (1948) agreed to a point, but he also attacked that dictatorship as ‘‘barbaric.’’ Similarly, in Venezuela: Política y Petróleo Rómulo Betancourt (1956), the Punto Fijo president who evolved from a Communist revolutionary to a reformist democrat, penned an influential criticism of Marcos Pérez Jiménez’s dictatorship.∞ Universities also influenced Venezuelan political debate. The Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV; Central University of Venezuela) provided a venue for organizing protests as interest articulators for the masses (Hillman, 1994: 85–86). University students fought in the independence wars and subsequently opposed an array of civilian and military tyrants. In 1928, antigovern- Intellectuals: An Elite Divided 117 ment speeches at the UCV culminated in a strike that provoked popular demonstrations against General Gómez. Whether incarcerated or in exile, leaders of this student ‘‘Generation of 28’’ exerted a crucial influence on politics for more than five decades. The best known (Rómulo Betancourt, Raúl Leoni, and Jóvito Villalba) organized movements that became important political parties. Another group, the ‘‘Generation of 1936’’ (led by Rafael Caldera), followed the Christian Democratic tradition. Student leaders in the late 1950s also helped to overthrow the Pérez Jiménez dictatorship (1958) and make the transition to Punto Fijo democracy. During the closing decade of the twentieth century newspaper and magazine editorials, radio and television talk shows, academic books, articles, lectures , and pamphlets excoriated the political parties and pacts that shaped democratic consolidation in the 1960s. Indeed, public opinion makers escalated their criticism of Acción Democrática (AD; Democratic Action) and Comité de Organización Política Electoral Independiente: Partido...