초록 열기/닫기 버튼
At first sight, the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, drawn up by a Constituent Assembly and promulgated in 1999, looks progressive and ideal, by proclaiming a significant change of the representative democracy into a participatory one and by disposing a series of expansion and fortification of human rights. As it is true that nothing is perfect neither everlasting, the tenacious advocator of that Constitution, President Hugo Chavez proposed to reform it on a large scale in December, 2007. The amendment was not approved in the referendum. But the Venezuelan President got his own way in August, 2008 by decreeing what was frustrated in the referendum: the article 103, fourth paragraph, of the Constitution, bestows the power to make Enabling Act on the President. This ability is formally constitutional. But it is questionable that it always would be so in fact. The Venezuelan Enabling Act is affected by serious defects of unconstitutionality because of being an Act of plenary power. Chávez abused this ability and Venezuelan rule of law has weakened due to the lack of separation of powers. It would not proper to say that only this factor clouds the achievements of Chávez’s government in social, economic and political matters, but surely it plays a decisive negative role. In a word, it is a kind of black hole which absorbs all stability and reliability of the Venezuelan Constitution. It is not accidental that Latinobarometro Survey 2009 indicates deterioration of the image of Chávez and Venezuela.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
Venezuelan Constitution/ Enabling Act/ Constitutionality vs. Unconstitutionality/ Efficiency vs. Cost
