VENEZUELA POLITICAL-PARTY SYSTEM - DEFINING EVENTS, REACTIONS AND THEDILUTING OF STRUCTURAL CLEAVAGES

Focusing on post-1958 party system evolution in Venezuela, this study examines how elite reactions to four defining events diluted relations hips between structural cleavages and partisanship. These events were the unification of elite factions behind procedural democracy, post-19 73 increases in state income from the international sale of petroleum, the late 1980s economic downturn and the armed forces' failure to gai n widespread support for a military government following the initially popular coup attempt of 4 February 1992. The structural cleavages tha t orientated partisanship early in the democratic experience divided t he poor from others, the Caracas-dominated center from the periphery, city-dwellers from rural residents, and locations in which traditional culture prevailed from those dominated by modern culture. The partisa n-orientating impact of the first two structural cleavages declined af ter elite agreements and high international prices for petroleum provi ded resources that allowed the dominant Accion Democratica (AD - Democ ratic Action) and Partido Socialcristiano (COPEI - Social Christian Pa rty) political parties to coopt multi-class support. The latter struct ural cleavages eroded in response to economic development and graduall y lost their political relevance.