The Missionary Politics of Hugo Chavez

In: Latin American politics and society, Band 50, Heft 1, S. 91-121

Abstract

Through the application of an analytical model categorized as 'missionary,' this article examines the cultural and political-religious frames that sustain the leadership of Hugo Chavez. It demonstrates that missionary politics is a forceful presence in today's Venezuela, and should be understood as a form of political religion characterized by a dynamic relationship between a charismatic leader and a moral community that is invested with a mission of salvation against conspiratorial enemies. The leader's verbal and nonverbal discourses play an essential role in the development of such a missionary mode of politics, which seeks to provide the alienated mass of underprivileged citizens with an identity and a sense of active participation in national affairs. This study argues that purely utilitarian and materialistic explanations of Chavez's leadership fail to capture these soteriological dynamics in his movement. Adapted from the source document.