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THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN VENEZUELA & THE LACK OF CHECKS AND BALANCES

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Date Issued:
2012
Abstract/Description:
Although the wave of democratization already took place in Latin America, Venezuela has experienced a reversal in the past decade. In earlier years, the higher courts (although independent) had no impact on society; the justice members only assumed a symbolic role with no real importance, but with time, this characteristic started to interchange and the Judicial branch began to get involved in issues regarding its civil society. Consequently, the elected President Hugo Chávez decided to neutralize the power of all branches of government, including the judiciary, by enacting a set of rules not commonly seen in a democratic country, which concentrated the majority of power in his hand, eliminating the concept of Checks and Balances. This imbalance of power between the Executive and all other branches of government, has led to the deterioration, and almost elimination, of the independence within the judiciary. Therefore, the more the executive controls the judiciary, the less autonomy and less self-sufficiency it will have, thus eliminating the checks and balances in the Venezuelan government. In this negative relationship, the excessiveness of power exerted by the Executive branch is the main variable that controls the judicial branch. I will present valuable background information to this topic, and I will then suggest a concise solution to the problem of government imbalance between the branches in the Venezuelan government.
Title: THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN VENEZUELA & THE LACK OF CHECKS AND BALANCES.
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Name(s): Gicherman, Jessica, Author
Sadri, Houman, Committee Chair
University of Central Florida, Degree Grantor
Type of Resource: text
Date Issued: 2012
Publisher: University of Central Florida
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: Although the wave of democratization already took place in Latin America, Venezuela has experienced a reversal in the past decade. In earlier years, the higher courts (although independent) had no impact on society; the justice members only assumed a symbolic role with no real importance, but with time, this characteristic started to interchange and the Judicial branch began to get involved in issues regarding its civil society. Consequently, the elected President Hugo Chávez decided to neutralize the power of all branches of government, including the judiciary, by enacting a set of rules not commonly seen in a democratic country, which concentrated the majority of power in his hand, eliminating the concept of Checks and Balances. This imbalance of power between the Executive and all other branches of government, has led to the deterioration, and almost elimination, of the independence within the judiciary. Therefore, the more the executive controls the judiciary, the less autonomy and less self-sufficiency it will have, thus eliminating the checks and balances in the Venezuelan government. In this negative relationship, the excessiveness of power exerted by the Executive branch is the main variable that controls the judicial branch. I will present valuable background information to this topic, and I will then suggest a concise solution to the problem of government imbalance between the branches in the Venezuelan government.
Identifier: CFH0004205 (IID), ucf:44973 (fedora)
Note(s): 2012-05-01
B.A.
Sciences, Dept. of Political Science
Bachelors
This record was generated from author submitted information.
Subject(s): venezuela
judicial
checks and balances
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004205
Restrictions on Access: campus 2015-04-01
Host Institution: UCF

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