The Socialism of the 21 Century in Latin America: the Chavista Model and its Regional Dimension

During the 2000s, Latin America witnesses a surge in electoral victories by left-wing governments, a phenomenon referred to in the extant literature as the "pink tide" or "left turn." This unprecedented clustering on the continent is characterized by an unparalleled concentration of left-leaning governments, with two-thirds of all nations falling into this category. What is equally striking, however, is the temporary cluster, as this wave of changes of government occurred within a brief span of approximately ten years. This paper argues that both the spatial and temporal clustering phenomena cannot be explained without recourse to the role of Hugo Chávez and his role as an ideological-political motor. Hence, this paper takes an actor-centered perspective looking into a) the ideological idearium and mission that Chávez developed and promoted, b) Chávez’s actual activities to implement his mission, and c) the internal and external dimensions of this mission. For analyzing the radicalization of the pink into a red tide, manifesting as 21st Century Socialism (21CS), needs to be considered the agency of Chávez, his strategic preferences and decisions and their impact beyond Venezuela on the continent. Chávez's objectives included the implementation of the Bolivarian Revolution (BR) and, subsequently, 21st Century Socialism (21CS) within his own country. But additionally, his intention was to achieve a political protagonism for the BR and the 21CS in the region. This strategy of the Chavismo as regional project necessitates examination as a factor for the evolution of the 21CS as a regional phenomenon. The sequence of events is not merely a matter of coincidence. In the aftermath of the 1998 Venezuelan elections, Chávez not only emerges as the first and inaugural president of this left turn, he subsequently serves as a catalyst for a radical ideological and political program that garnered significant appeal among other political actors on the continent. Moreover, Chávez not only inspires but also actively underpins a new wave of left-oriented presidents in Latin America and beyond that he nourishes a broad movement that is developing great momentum in different regards: he actively and deliberately influences political actors, he finds broad popular support and even veneration in several societies and, finally, he becomes a source of ideological inspiration among the continent's intellectuals in what was conceived a socialist revindication on the continent. The paper therefore pursues two interrelated questions: first, how to define the content of 21CS and second, what strategies Chávez pursued to institutionalise it both nationally and transnationally. The article thus sees itself as a conceptual extension of existing typologies of authoritarian regimes and argues that 21CS should be understood as a distinct variant of authoritarian government that provided new impetus for political legitimation and regional networking in Latin America.