Rentier Capitalism and Agrarian Transformation in Venezuela

What is it about?

In 2016, Venezuela's project of 21st Century Socialism seemingly entered into a phase of terminal decline. This paper critically investigates the failure of production and land redistribution initiatives designed to promote cheap domestic food production. Primary field research documents falling level of production, institutional corruption within the agricultural sector and, as a result, an increasing dependence on food and agricultural imports.

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Why is it important?

Few Marxist accounts of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution have taken seriously the internal contradictions and macroeconomic failures of government development polices. In 2017 Venezuela stands on the brink: intense social unrest, food and medicine shortages are all attributed to a so-called economic war against the government. This paper offers an alternative account based on an analysis of the contradictions of rentier capitalism which the Bolivarian Revolution has reproduced in an intensified form.