The National Roots of ALBA

Abstract

This chapter reassesses the national political economy of ALBA member-states Ecuador, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, and especially Venezuela, finding common tendencies towards state-led, inward-looking development, autonomy within a context of multipolarity, and boosted legitimacy via participatory institutions (input) and welfare provision (output). Yet, even overlap** development strategies have achieved widely different levels of implementation. Bolivarian Venezuela’s attempts to socialise the economy, boost human development, and democratise governance have produced neither economic diversification nor a newly collectivist political culture. Instead, oil price windfalls have been channelled into ad hoc parallel institutions under executive control, where problems of waste, inefficiency, and corruption persist. Under Maduro, collapsing oil revenues have revealed the limitations of the underlying model. Though comparable in certain areas, Correa’s Citizen’s Revolution in Ecuador was far less radical in its means and ends, as the focus was on evolution over revolution. Even Eastern Caribbean ALBA members did share some key principles and policy postures with their Latin counterparts, but their vulnerability as insular micro-states demanded pragmatism.