Steve Ellner
Biographic Data
| ID | 457552 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Steve Ellner |
| GIVEN NAMES | Steve |
| FAMILY NAME | Ellner |
| SIGNATURE | ELLNER S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Universidad de Oriente |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9969-3350 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 125 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 255 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 125 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1979 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Comments on Barbara Foley’s Essay on Western Marxism
Nicolás Maduro’s 13-Year Rule: Political Survival under Siege
Looking Back on the Hugo Chávez Experience: Change through Ongoing Struggle Tempered by Pragmatism
Three general perspectives on Hugo Chávez’s radicalization are based on misleading premises. One reduces it to fiery rhetoric or a Manichaean vision, allegedly typical of populists; another claims that Chávez was a committed Marxist prior to reaching power; and a third that Chávez was committed to a permanent revolution, which according to those who champion it consists of an offensive strategy without major compromises. Chávez was an eclectic th…
The Latin American Revolutionary Movement: Proceedings of the First Latin American Communist Conference, June 1929
Commentary: A Balanced View of China’s Economic Ties
In Memoriam: Hobart A. Spalding Jr.: 1936-2025
On a Much-Needed Polemic on the Prioritization of Anti-Imperialism
Maduro and Machado Play Hardball: With ultimatums from Washington and a radical right-winger vying to challenge the incumbent president Venezuela's 2024 presidential elections appear headed for confro…
It is no secret that the Washington establishment is as enamored with Venezuela’s presidential candidate María Corina Machado as she is with the United States. In one example, the day after the Bid
Coup: A Story of Violence and Resistance in Bolivia
Downplaying U.S. Imperialism Despite its Ongoing Tenacity: The Latin American Dimension
The Unintended and Unfortunate Consequences of Robinson's “Manichean” Label
Applying/Misapplying Gramsci's Passive Revolution to Latin America
Steve Ellner deconstructs the argument that Pink Tide governments elected since 2018 are in a state of "passive revolution," having betrayed their progressive roots through concessions to conservative elements and capital. This analysis, Ellner finds, fails to capture the material impacts of Pink Tide governments, their strategic importance, or their potential to pull societies toward a more radical leftist future
Responses to Comments by William Robinson and Bill Bollinger
Dependency Theory and Its Revival in the Twenty-First Century
This essay reviews the following works:El giro dependentista latinoamericano: Los orígenes de la teoría marxista de la dependencia. Edited by Juan Cristóbal Cárdenas Castro and Raphael Lana Seabra. Santiago: Ariadna, 2022. Pp. 426. Open access e-book: https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/57860. ISBN: 9566095570.Teorías del imperialismo y la dependencia desde el Sur Global. Edited by Néstor Kohan. Buenos Aires: Amauta Insurgente and Cienf…
Objective Conditions in Venezuela: Maduro's Defensive Strategy and Contradictions among the People
In 2020, the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) withdrew support for President Nicolás Maduro even though Washington had recently intensified the “war on Venezuela,” which included sanctions and military threats. The PCV's decision was in response to Maduro's business-friendly “defensive strategy” in the face of the imperialist aggression, which was more severe than that directed against other progressive Latin American governments, particularly …
Prioritizing U.S. Imperialism in Evaluating Latin America's Pink Tide
Steve Ellner analyzes the debate surrounding the wave of elections of left-leaning political leaders in Latin America, known as the Pink Tide. Critics of these governments, Ellner suggests, emphasize their shortcomings at the expense of recognizing their anti-imperial position
Commentary: Reply
Left Government Strategies toward Business Groups and the Outcomes: The Mexican and Venezuelan Cases
The progressive governments of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico and Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela followed a strategy of selective treatment to win over some businesspeople and neutralize others in order to weaken the opposition of a hostile business class. This approach had advantages and downsides. It succeeded in gaining support from business representatives for government initiatives in moments of difficulty and crisis and …
The April 2002 Coup Through Time: The landmark event locked Venezuelan politics into a polarized face-off that leaves little room for constructive criticism
Commentaries
Socialist Practice and Transition
In Socialist Practice, a collection of essays on leftist theory and experiences, Victor Wallis adheres to the view that the achievement of socialism is a drawn out, nonlinear process consisting of episodes that in many cases have a mixed impact on the revolutionary cause. He analyzes several, ranging from the seven decades of Soviet rule to the New Left of the 1960s. His main thesis is that over the last century pure socialism has never existed a…
Marta Harnecker (1937-2019)
Conspiracies in the Age of Neoliberalism
Introduction: Salient Characteristics of Mexico's Neoliberal Turn and Andrés Manuel López Obrador's Critique
Enrique Dussel’s Ethics of Liberation: An Introduction
This analysis of the philosophical writings of Argentine-Mexican theorist Enrique Dussel sheds light on the ideological underpinnings of “Twenty-First Century Socialism” embraced by the presidents
The Distinguishing Features of Latin America's New Left in Power: The Chávez, Morales, and Correa Governments
The governments of Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), and Rafael Correa (Ecuador) share strategies, policies, and discourses that contrast with those of the center-leftists in power in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay as well as the social democratic, socialist, and classical populist experiences of the past. All three governments have triumphed at the polls with large majorities, rely on the ongoing mobilization of their followers, an…
The Contrasting Variants of the Populism of Hugo Chávez and Alberto Fujimori
During the 1990s Peru's Alberto Fujimori and Argentina's Carlos Menem were the two main political successes of Latin American populism. Both completed two successive presidential terms, a unique accomplishment in the continent, and overcame the political instability that previously beset their nations. Scholars who analysed these and other contemporary regimes concluded that Latin American populism was flexible and resilient enough to adapt to a …
Social and Political Diversity and the Democratic Road to Change in Venezuela
The political movement led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is subject to internal contradictions that play themselves out on various fronts. Members of three major social groups-the organized working class, the middle sectors, and the traditionally unincorporated sectors-identify with different lines of thinking and defend different interests. Chavismo's internal political currents correspond to distinct leftist traditions. One adheres to the…
Venezuela's Social-Based Democratic Model: Innovations and Limitations
Under the Chávez government, the incorporation and participation of popular sectors, which is the essence of 'social-based democracy', has been quantitatively and qualitatively different from socialist government and welfare-state strategies of the past. Venezuela's social-based democracy focuses on education, job skills, ideology, transformation of values and empowerment, achievements which Chavista leaders consider to be imperatives for sociali…
Hugo Chávez's First Decade in Office: Breakthroughs and Shortcomings
A balance sheet of the 10 years of Chavismo in power refutes both the opposition's demonization of it and the rosy depiction of it in the official media. Viewed objectively, the Venezuelan experience coincides with the historical tendency for socialist nations to score high on the social front and show weakness with regard to the stimulation of production of consumer goods. While the Chávez government has incorporated massive numbers of the forme…
Latin America's Radical Left in Power: Complexities and Challenges in the Twenty-first Century
The democratic, peaceful road to socialism, which has been pursued by the governments of Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador and serves as an inspiration for much of the Latin American left, hardly represents a new approach. Social democratic movements worldwide grouped in the Socialist International were the foremost advocates of socialism by pacific means from the organization’s founding in 1951. However, whereas the social democrats favored modera…
Revolutionary and Non-Revolutionary Paths of Radical Populism: Directions of the Chavista Movement in Venezuela
Radical populist movements in Latin America have tended to move in one of two directions, both of which manifest themselves in the policies, actions and discourse of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and his followers. Hard-line Chavistas envision a peaceful radicalization process as a result of the intensification and escalation of conflict. The hardliners view the creation of parallel structures in the labor movement, civil society and public administrat…
Pink-Tide Governments: Pragmatic and Populist Responses to Challenges from the Right
The Bolivarian Process in Venezuela: A Left Forum
The ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ in Venezuela under Hugo Chávez has reignited debate in Latin America and internationally on the questions of socialism and revolution. This forum brings together six leading intellectuals from different revolutionary traditions and introduces their reflections on class-struggle, the state, imperialism, counter-power, revolutionary parties, community and communes, workplaces, economy, politics, society, culture, race, g…
Venezuelan Revisionist Political History, 1908-1958: New Motives and Criteria for Analyzing the Past
Until a few years ago, Venezuelans and their historians held black and white notions about the regimes that had governed the country after it became a centralized state in the early twentieth century. As Venezuelan historian Santiago Gerardo Suárez pointed out, "The victor writes history." And indeed, most portrayals of Venezuelan rulers after 1908 were strongly colored by the roles played by leading members of the political parties that emerged …
Dependency Theory and Its Revival in the Twenty-First Century
This essay reviews the following works:El giro dependentista latinoamericano: Los orígenes de la teoría marxista de la dependencia. Edited by Juan Cristóbal Cárdenas Castro and Raphael Lana Seabra. Santiago: Ariadna, 2022. Pp. 426. Open access e-book: https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/57860. ISBN: 9566095570.Teorías del imperialismo y la dependencia desde el Sur Global. Edited by Néstor Kohan. Buenos Aires: Amauta Insurgente and Cienf…
The Perennial Debate over Socialist Goals Played Out in Venezuela
Two Marxist traditions play themselves out in the internal debate in the movement headed by Hugo Chávez. The “ realists ” favor practical policies to increase production, while the “ cultural optimists ” are concerned with combating capitalist values. The discussions of wage differentials in worker-run plants and cooperatives recall the Marxist distinction between “to each according to their work” (favored by realists) and “to each according to n…
The Defensive Strategy on the Left in Latin America: Objective and Subjective Conditions in the Age of Globalization
Leftist Goals and the Debate over Anti-Neoliberal Strategy in Latin America
Three strategies emerged in the 1990s in Latin America in the struggle against neoliberalism: Jorge Castañeda's approach which assigns centrists a key role; the strategy associated with Marta Harnecker in which the left prioritizes anti-neoliberalism; and the strategy defended by James Petras in which anti-neoliberal demands do not overshadow anti-imperialism or anti-capitalist struggles. The experiences in Venezuela (Rafael Caldera), Argentina (…
The Emergence of a New Trade Unionism in Venezuela with Vestiges of the Past
For decades prior to Hugo Chivez's accession to power, labor leaders propagated the idea of the Venezuelan workers' movement as one big happy family, a notion not entirely concocted. The family image stemmed from three historical tendencies. In the first place, the dominant party in organized labor, Acci6n Democritica (AD), displayed a certain generosity by including trade unionists representing diverse political parties, even ones with minimum w…
Venezuelan Politics in the Chávez Era: Class, Polarization & Conflict
Prologue: Venezuela's Permanent Dilemma - J.V. Lombardi. Introduction: The Search for Explanations - S. Ellner. Political Overview: The Breakdown of Puntofijismo and Rise of Chavismo - D. Hellinger. Social Polarization and Populist Resurgence in Venezuela - K. Roberts. Hugo Chavez Frias: His Movement and His Presidency - M. Lopez Maya. Democracy in Uniform: Chavez and Venezuelan Armed Forces - D.L. Norden. Economic Policy and Rise of Hugo Chavez …
The Radical Potential of Chavismo in Venezuela: The First Year and a Half in Power
The circumstances surrounding Hugo Chaivez's pursuit of power and the strategy he has adopted for achieving far-reaching change in Venezuela are in many ways without parallel in Latin American politics. While many generals have been elected president, Chavez's electoral triumph was unique in that he was a middle-level officer with radical ideas who had previously led a coup attempt. Furthermore, few Latin American presidents have attacked existin…
The Deepening of Democracy in a Crisis Setting: Political Reform and the Electoral Process in Venezuela
During a conference on "Democracy under Pressure" that took place in November 1992 under the aegis of the North-South Center, a Venezuelan political scientist observed that, when all is said and done, the much-touted changes in the Venezuelan political system will probably not amount to much. The two major parties, which have exercised a near monopoly over electoral politics for the past 20 years, would doubtless pull in 80% of the vote in Decemb…
Implications of Marxist State Theory and How They Play Out in Venezuela
The implications of Marxist state theories developed by Nicos Poulantzas and Ralph Miliband are useful for framing issues related to leftist strategy in twenty-first-century Venezuela. A relationship exists between each of the theories and three issues facing the Chavista movement: whether the bourgeoisie (or sectors of it) displays a sense of ‘class-consciousness’; the viability of tactical and strategic alliances between the left and groups lin…
The Clash of Political Paradigms in Twenty-first-Century Latin America and the Response of Area-Study Journals
Coup: A Story of Violence and Resistance in Bolivia
Prioritizing U.S. Imperialism in Evaluating Latin America's Pink Tide
Steve Ellner analyzes the debate surrounding the wave of elections of left-leaning political leaders in Latin America, known as the Pink Tide. Critics of these governments, Ellner suggests, emphasize their shortcomings at the expense of recognizing their anti-imperial position
Class Strategies in Chavista Venezuela: Pragmatic and Populist Policies in a Broader Context
The governments of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro responded to the opposition's attempts at regime change by implementing pragmatic policies favoring businesspeople who refused to participate in destabilization actions, as well as populist social measures benefiting the nonprivileged. Both sets of policies have to be placed in political context. The characterization of allegedly pro-government businesspeople as a new ruling elite referred to as t…
Building Global Labor Solidarity in a Time of Accelerating Globalization
The changing strategies of the international labor solidarity movement reflect trends on the left and worldwide, beginning with the rise of the New Left in the 1960s and globalization in the 1980s
Venezuela's Fragile Revolution: From Chávez to Maduro
The Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela has always been shaped by the dangers and demands of achieving socialism through democratic means. Only by reckoning with that complexity can we understand both Venezuela's current crisis and its recent history.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website
Conversaciones con Americo Martin
Conversaciones con Américo MartínConversaciones con Douglas BravoConversaciones con Luis Beltrán Prieto
Factionalism in the Venezuelan Communist Movement, 1937-1948
Diverse Influences on the Venezuelan Left: Five Books by Venezuelan Leftists
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Del garibaldismo estudiantil a la izquierda criolla: Los origenes marxistas del proyecto de A.D. (1928-1935)
Del garibaldismo estudiantil a la izquierda criolla: Los orígenes marxistas del proyecto de A.D. (1928-1935)
Betancourt y la conjura militar del 45
Betancourt y la conjura militar del 45El 18 de octubre de 1945: Génesis y realizaciones de una revolución democrática
Los partidos políticos y su disputa por el control del movimiento sindical en Venezuela, 1936-1948
López Contreras: De la tiranía a la libertad
Historia de la Venezuela política contemporánea
El movimiento obrero petrolero: Proceso de formacion y desarrollo
El movimiento obrero petrolero: Proceso de formación y desarrolloEl movimiento obrero venezolano, 1850-1980
Venezuelans Reflect on the Meaning of the 23 de enero
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The MAS Party in Venezuela
From the days of Marx to the present, socialist parties have attempted to arrive at a correct balance in their political work between agitation around concrete demands and diffusion of ideological propaganda based on the socialist ideal. Leftist theoreticians have disagreed over the emphasis that should be placed on these two forms of political activity. Marx criticized the Utopian Socialists for avoiding the class struggle and attempting to achi…
Hegemonia y alternativas politicas en America Latina
Hegemonía y alternativas políticas en América Latina
Venezuela's Movimiento al socialismo: From Guerrilla Defeat to Innovative Politics
Organized Labor's Political Influence and Party Ties in Venezuela: Acción Democráticaand its Labor Leadership
The nomination of Carlos Andrés Peréz as the presidential candidate of Venezuela's Democratic Action party(Acción Democráticaor AD) and his triumph at the polls in December 1988 are just the latest examples of the AD Labor Bureau's success in being on the winning side in electoral contests. AD-Labor's well-demonstrated political clout underscores the importance of the relations between the Labor Bureau and the AD organization. An examination of t…
Venezuela's Movimiento al Socialismo: From Guerilla Defeat to Innovative Politics
Democracy in Latin America: Colombia and Venezuela
Preface Democratic and Authoritarian Traditions by Donald L. Herman From Rural to Urban Society: The Transformation of Colombian Democracy by Harvey F. Kline Colombian Political Parties and Electoral Behavior During the Post- Nationalist Front Period by Gary Hoskin Post-War and Post-Nationalist Front Economic Development of Columbia by R. Albert Berry and Francisco E. Thoumi The Colombian State Crisis: Continuity and Change by Harvey F. Kline Cre…
Las Venezuelas del siglo veinte
The Latin American Left Since Allende: Perspectives and New Directions
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Latin America between the Second World War and the Cold War, 1944–1948: Crisis and Containment, 1944-1948
This volume aims to establish that the period between the end of the Second World War II and the beginning of the Cold War (1944–5 to 1947–8) hitherto neglected, represents an important conjuncture in the political and social history of twentieth-century Latin America. Despite differences in political regime, different levels of economic and social development, and different relations with the regional hegemony. There are striking similarities in…
The Latin American Left: From the Fall of Allende to Perestroika
Political science (107 works) · Law (83 works) · Politics (75 works) · Politics and Society in Latin America (54 works) · Sociology (52 works) · Political economy (49 works) · Latin Americans (37 works) · Economics (36 works) · History (33 works) · Democracy (28 works)