Explaining radical policy change: the case of Venezuelan foreign policy

Abstract

This article uses the case study of the radical changes that have occurred in Venezuelan foreign policy to test the utility of different models of policy-making, looking specifically at policy transfer but more especially at two long-standing frameworks that look at policy-making in terms of societal or state interests as determining the orientation and contents of policy. Using the radical changes to foreign policy introduced by President Chávez as the case study, it was found that no one model is capable of explaining change. It is necessary to move between models and even add novel elements in order to understand the complexity of events and their underlying causes. In Venezuela, it was found that a society-centred model was the best fit for the period leading up to President Chávez's presidency when a state-centred model provided much greater explanatory power. Policy transfer figured little in the radical policy shifts but the incorporation of the concept of veto players into both society and state-centred models of policy-making proved useful.