President Chavez's Model Of Democracy

The broad powers given to the executive to make policy decrees were often aimed at limiting the powers of the media. In 2000, President Chavez instituted theOrganiz Law of Telecommunications which allowed the government to suspend any boradcast at anytime if it is the best interest of the nation. In 2004 he introduced the Law for Social Responsibility which banned broadcasting of materials that would promote hate or violence. In 2005, reforms were passed which made it illegal to be disrespectful to or about government officials (Diamond, Plattner, & Walker 2016). As these laws were passed, the press found if more difficult to share non-positive government messages. Doing so could be seen as violating these laws if they shared or fostered dissent.

When compared to Coker's model for democracy, Venezuela has slowly lost its democratic essence. Although they have the democratic process of elections with high voter turnout, the legitimacy of those elections has been called into question as it was in 2000 due to partisan officials overseeing the election process. The executive powers of the president have grown with the passage of a new constitution. These laws allow the president to disregard the decentralized structure of the government and force their and their party's will into reality. Finally, the freedom to share information through the press has been stifled through the passage of new laws by executive decree as well as the requirement of licensing from the government in order to function. These are simply a few events that have marked Venezuela's descend into authoritarian

Although the country has elections, they are seen increasingly as delegitimate. The president has increasingly broad powers to create his and his party's platform into reality with little to no oversight from separate branches of government. The media must be approved to operate with licensing through the government with laws limiting what can and cannot be said. Domestically, authoritarianism has increased to maintain control of the government. This control used to be given to those in charge through democratic means, but now that leaders have lost support publicly, they are not willing to let go of the power they hold. Internationally, Venezuela has positioned itself in a niche where countries will not sanction them due to their mutually beneficial trade of oil. Today, Venezuela is experiencing economic and social crisis intermingled together due to their reliance on oil for social support. Without that social support from the electorate, President Maduro will continue to rely on his broad executive powers to stray farther away from democracy and more towards