—-1 —0 —+1 CHAPTER 6 Venezuela Between Two States George Ciccariello-Maher Introduction As the title of this chapter suggests, while contemporary Venezuela may be considered post-neoliberal, it is not yet postliberal. Much less is it what some, in an unfortunate turn of phrase, have called “postdemocratic” (Levine 2002, 261). In fact, it is in the easy slide between postliberal and postdemocratic that we can locate the questions animating many contemporary debates, in- cluding the intervention that follows. Instead of being comfortably “post-,” Venezuela stands at something of a tipping point: situated tensely between capitalism and socialism, between liberal democracy and . . . something else. Tat “something else” is increasingly denoted in terms of the “communal state,” a grassroots and radically democratic alternative to both liberal de- mocracy in the political sphere and the oil export-driven and consequently import-addicted economic sphere. Tis is an alternative, in other words, that aspires to a postliberal future that is not postdemocratic but in fact more democratic. It is from this space between the existing and the not-yet that many mis- understandings arise, however willfully. Despite widespread laments about the dismantling, unraveling, and even destruction of Venezuelan democracy, what is too ofen neglected is that such concerns center on a particular form of liberal-representative democracy. 1 In other words, most contemporary criticisms of Venezuela’s Bolivarian government leverage their opposition on the basis of a speci fc understanding of what democracy means but, more ofen than not, this is not a view of democracy that is either refected in the 543-68723_ch01_1P.indd 113 543-68723_ch01_1P.indd 113 4/20/17 3:58 PM 4/20/17 3:58 PM