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As long as the military continues to support the government, an armed population cannot not successfully force Maduro out. There are also many Venezuelan civil

As long as the military continues to support the government, an armed population cannot not successfully force Maduro out. There are also many Venezuelan civilians who still support the regime. These people would presumably also have guns.

whb07 8y ago
this goes against every revolution in the history books.
- duxup 8y ago
  Even the unsuccessful? Or the successful ones that just lead to another autocracy?
- crispinb 8y ago
  Untrue. Read (for example) Erica Chenoweth's detailed empirical work on civil resistance. Nonviolent resistance has a considerably higher real-world chance of success than armed uprising. It also has the huge advantage of leaving behind less collective trauma, giving post-revolutionary society a better chance of sustaining peace.
giancarlostoro 8y ago
Dont forget that Venezuela is now a narco state. As long as this goes on they will keep feeding the rich military heads and screw everybody else over. Nobody will do anything till Forbes magazine makes an article about it though (seems to be a weird meme portayed by Netflix's Narcos series, it wasnt till they wound up on Forbes magazine that the biggest of drug lords were taken down by the DEA for whatever reason).
jeffdavis 8y ago
The decline im Venezuela was quite rapid from a high place. The people there must be in shock and desperate. I'm not wishing for violence, but it seems like the rare kind of scenario where violence might be successful. And Chavez was clearly concerned about it enough to disarm people before the collapse happened. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I hear the theory often that armed civilians can't effect positive change, and I don't know where the certainty comes from. Surely it's a longshot, like all violence is because of the ensuing chaos, but it seems plausible when the people at least remember something better.

whb07 8y ago

this goes against every revolution in the history books.

duxup 8y ago
Even the unsuccessful? Or the successful ones that just lead to another autocracy?
crispinb 8y ago
Untrue. Read (for example) Erica Chenoweth's detailed empirical work on civil resistance. Nonviolent resistance has a considerably higher real-world chance of success than armed uprising. It also has the huge advantage of leaving behind less collective trauma, giving post-revolutionary society a better chance of sustaining peace.

giancarlostoro 8y ago

Dont forget that Venezuela is now a narco state. As long as this goes on they will keep feeding the rich military heads and screw everybody else over. Nobody will do anything till Forbes magazine makes an article about it though (seems to be a weird meme portayed by Netflix's Narcos series, it wasnt till they wound up on Forbes magazine that the biggest of drug lords were taken down by the DEA for whatever reason).

jeffdavis 8y ago

The decline im Venezuela was quite rapid from a high place. The people there must be in shock and desperate. I'm not wishing for violence, but it seems like the rare kind of scenario where violence might be successful. And Chavez was clearly concerned about it enough to disarm people before the collapse happened. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I hear the theory often that armed civilians can't effect positive change, and I don't know where the certainty comes from. Surely it's a longshot, like all violence is because of the ensuing chaos, but it seems plausible when the people at least remember something better.