Venezuelan politics attracted little attention from political
scientists for thirty years after the defeat of the fidelista
guerrillas in the 1960s, but there has been a surge of interest
in recent years. The country retained civilian, elected govern-
ment through a dark period of authoritarianism in Latin
America, which seemed to make it a good candidate for
deriving lessons about transitions to democracy. In the 1990s,
however, the democratic system entered into crisis. Venezu-
ela experienced urban riots, two unsuccessful coups, removal
of a president from office before completion of his term,
rising electoral abstention, collapse of the traditional parties
at the heart of the system, and the election of a coup leader
to the presidency. Attention shifted from what went right to
what went wrong. These books help us understand the
limitations of the Venezuelan democratic model.