Instrumentalization of the COVID-19 Pandemic to Consolidate the Authoritarian Power of Nicolás Maduro and Transform Venezuela into a Police State

• Authors: Justyna Łapaj-Kucharska

Title variants

PL

Instrumentalizacja pandemii COVID-19 w celu konsolidacji autorytarnej władzy Nicolása Maduro i przekształcenia Wenezueli w państwo policyjne

Abstracts

PL

W przypadku Wenezueli pandemia COVID-19 uderzyła w kraj, który już od lat znajdował się w wielowymiarowym kryzysie, narastającym w warunkach dewastacji gospodarczej i społecznej oraz rządów autorytarnych. Stan pandemii przyspieszył jednak przekształcenie Wenezueli w państwo policyjne, umożliwiając wprowadzenie nieuzasadnionych ograniczeń pandemicznych, które były egzekwowane przez państwowy aparat bezpieczeństwa i dopuszczające się nadużyć siły zbrojne. Celem artykułu jest ukazanie instrumentalizacji pandemii COVID-19 w obszarze radykalizacji reżimu Maduro oraz odpowiedź na pytania, w jakich obszarach funkcjonowania państwa i w jakim wymiarze reżim Nicolása Maduro wykorzystał pandemię i powiązane z nią ograniczenia praw obywatelskich w celu wzmocnienia autorytarnej władzy, radykalizacji działań służb bezpieczeństwa, łamania praw człowieka i przekształcenia Wenezueli w państwo policyjne.

EN

For Venezuela, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit a country that already has been in a multidimensional crisis for years in circumstances of economic and social devastation, and authoritarian rule. However, the pandemic accelerated Venezuela’s transformation into a police state by introducing unsubstantiated pandemic restrictions that were enforced by the state security apparatus and abusive armed forces. The aim of the article is to show the instrumentalization of the COVID-19 pandemic in the area of radicalization of the Maduro regime and to answer the questions in which areas of the state’s functioning and in what dimension the Nicolás Maduro regime used the pandemic and the related restrictions on civil rights to strengthen its authoritarian power, radicalize the activities of the security services, violate human rights, and to transform Venezuela into a police state.

Keywords

EN

Venezuela; authoritarian regime; COVID-19; Nicolás Maduro; police state

PL

Wenezuela; reżim autorytarny; COVID-19; Nicolás Maduro; państwo policyjne

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
• Journal: Athenaeum. Polskie Studia Politologiczne
• Year: 2023
• Volume: 79
• Pages: 285-313

Dates

published

2023

Contributors

author

Justyna Łapaj-Kucharska

• University of Silesia in Katowice

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Identifiers

DOI

10.15804/athena.2023.79.15

Biblioteka Nauki

22441076