Study Group: Lessons Learned from Venezuela's Democratization Efforts
The study group will host three sessions in April 2023 to contribute to answering why the democratization strategies tried in Venezuela in the last five years have failed to achieve sustainable political change and how the regime has adapted and responded to pro-democratic challenges.
The study group discussions will be led by Freddy Guevara, visiting fellow at the Ash Center, and hosted by the Growth Lab, the Venezuelan HKS Caucus, and the Ash Center's Initiative on Democracy in Hard Places. It is open to Harvard University students, fellows, alums, and other relevant actors that can contribute to the discussions.
The initiative aims to enable an in-depth examination of Venezuela's democratization struggle in the last five years that includes:
- Assessing the main strategies implemented by the Venezuelan Opposition to induce political change.
- Examining how the regime prepared to meet pro-democratic challenges and how it has reacted to deactivate its transformational potential.
- Balancing lessons learned (successes and failures) from the strategies examined.
- Discussing the prospects of rebuilding democracy in Venezuela.
Each session will start with initial interventions from the study group facilitator, who will then open the floor for the guest speakers, and questions and comments from the participants.
Seating is limited. Registration is required for each session.
Session I
Session I
Date: April 7, 2023
Time: 9:00 am - 10:30 am
Location: R-229 (Carr Conference Room), Rubenstein building, HKS
REGISTRATION LINK
Topic: Historical overview of the theories of change considered by the democratic forces from 2016 to 2022. Discussion about elections, mass mobilization, and negotiations under a dictatorship.
Initial remarks by:
Dr. Tarek Masoud, Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Governance, co-Editor of the Journal of Democracy of the National Endowment for Democracy, and serves as the Faculty Director of the Kennedy School's Middle East Initiative and the Initiative on Democracy in Hard Places.
Speakers:
Freddy Guevara, Fellow Researcher at the Ash Center, Vice President of the Venezuelan Parliament (2016), and a former political prisoner of Nicolas Maduro
Genesis Dávila, Humans Rights Defender, President of Defiende Venezuela, LL.M. International Legal Studies at New York University, and a Fulbright scholar
Session II
Session II
Date: April 14, 2023
Time: 9:00 am - 10:30 am
Location: B-L-4 Conference Room, Belfer building, HKS
REGISTRATION LINK
Topic: The Interim Government, the Economy, and International Sanctions: pressure from within and from outside.
Guest Speakers:
José Ramón Morales-Arilla, Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Department of Politics at Princeton University and Research Fellow at Harvard's Growth Lab.
Ricardo Villasmil, Research Fellow at the Center for International Development's Growth Lab, and former President of the Ad-hoc Central Bank of Venezuela in exile.
Session III
Session III
Date: April 21, 2023
Time: 9:00 am - 10:30 am
Location: B-L-4 Conference Room, Belfer building, HKS
REGISTRATION LINK
Topic: An alternative model to analyze the nature of the regime and its military support; a roundtable about Venezuela’s future, and conclusions.
Guest Speakers:
Jose Gustavo Arocha, MC-MPA 2018, Retired Lt Colonel, Venezuela Army; Senior Fellow at Center for a Secure Free Society; Research Affiliate, Center for Complex Interventions; former political prisoner.
José Ignacio Hernández, Visiting Fellow at Harvard Growth Lab, Senior Associate at CSIS, and former Special General Attorney of the interim Government of Venezuela.