Interaction between Partisanship and Personalism since the XIXth Century in Venezuela

The presidential-personalistic orientation of political leaders and the creation and strengthening of party organization have oscillated erratically since the late nineteenth century, due to dictatorships of the so-called "Andean hegemony" (1899-1935) and "Perez Jimenez-ism," 1948-1958. With the return to democracy in 1958, parties recovered their role as key political actors, but they began to deteriorate in the early 80s, having declined significantly during the current personalistic government of Hugo Chavez Frias. Based on secondary sources, this paper analyzes the antecedents and perspectives of this interaction, with special emphasis on the second half of the twentieth century.