Rebecca Hanson Shares Key Insights on Security and Policing in Venezuela During Chavismo

Rebecca Hanson, DRCLAS’ 2024-25 Peggy Rockefeller Visiting Scholar, presented groundbreaking research on the complexities of crime, security, and policing in Venezuela at a recent Tuesday Seminar. Hanson, who specializes in security studies with a focus on Latin America, discussed the unexpected consequences of policies aimed at reducing poverty and violence—highlighting how, in some cases, these initiatives can inadvertently worsen the problems they intend to solve.

The seminar centered around Hanson’s upcoming book, Policing the Revolution: The Transformation of Security and Violence in Venezuela During Chavismo, set for release in February 2025. This work builds on a decade of research, including extensive fieldwork in Venezuela, where Hanson collected ethnographic data, conducted focus groups, and carried out interviews with key stakeholders, including police reformers, community members, non-state armed groups, and over 140 interviews with police officers. [HR1] Her research spanned several Venezuelan states, with a significant focus on Caracas.

Hanson's book explores three phases of security policy in Venezuela during Chavismo: 2000-2005, 2006-2013, and 2014 to the present. The presentation focused primarily on the first two periods under Hugo Chávez's leadership, delving into how Venezuela’s revolutionary government reshaped state institutions and the coercive power wielded by its security forces. Hanson raised key questions about the impacts of rapid socio-economic and political transformations on policing in revolutionary contexts, asking:

• How did a revolutionary state transform traditional sources of coercive power?
• How did these changes affect the very populations that the revolution pledged to support?
• What can the Venezuelan case reveal about policing, governance, and state power in the Global South?

One of Hanson’s major conclusions is that, contrary to expectations, leftist governance in Venezuela led to outcomes typically associated with right-wing or neoliberal policies. She argues that Chavista policies produced a fragmented security landscape characterized by a diversification of armed actors, outsourcing of security, and the dispersion of coercive power—traits more commonly linked to neo liberalization. Yet, unlike other contexts, Venezuela’s shift occurred under a government initially opposed to neoliberalism, only to grow more authoritarian over time.

Hanson's findings challenge conventional narratives about Venezuela, which often depict the Chavista state as authoritarian from the outset. Instead, she argues for a more complex understanding of "revolutionary governance," which highlights internal conflicts within Chavismo itself. She noted that while much scholarly attention focuses on the relationship between the Chavista government and the opposition, there has been relatively little examination of internal struggles within the state itself.  According to Hanson, conflicts over power, oil rents, and the future of the revolution   led to fragmented and sometimes contradictory security policies, complicating efforts to maintain order and implement reform.

Her research also brings attention to the role of non-state actors in governance, a topic often overlooked in studies of Venezuela. Hanson highlighted how state actors sometimes tolerated—or even facilitated—non-state armed groups’ governance in certain areas. Although not discussed in the presentation, in the book Hanson looks at the relationships between some state actors and groups like armed colectivos and gangs.

One of Hanson’s most thought-provoking arguments is that police violence in some instances in Venezuela must be decoupled from state interests. In contexts of plural violence and criminal governance, she asserts, police actions sometimes serve as a form of resistance against the state rather than an extension of its authority. This insight, Hanson argues, is crucial for understanding the fractured nature of policing in Venezuela and other similar contexts in the Global South.

Hanson’s seminar offered a fresh and complex perspective on Venezuela's Chavista period, challenging existing narratives and emphasizing the need to examine the conflicts within revolutionary movements. Her work adds depth to the broader discourse on security, state-building, and governance in Latin America, providing crucial insights for scholars and policymakers alike.