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Dictatorship and Politics presents the first major study of General Juan Vicente Gómez’s regime in Venezuela from 1908 to 1935 and the efforts of Gómez’s enemies to overthrow him during his twenty-seven years in power. In this reappraisal of the Gómez regime, Brian S. McBeth demonstrates that Gómez’s success in withstanding opponents’ attacks was not only the result of his political acumen and ruthless methods of oppression. The political disagreements, personal rivalries, financial difficulties, occasional harassment by foreign powers, and at times plain bad luck of his opponents, usually in exile, were important contributing factors in the failure of their plots to overthrow him. In examining the opposition to the Gómez dictatorship, McBeth also intentionally removes the politics of oil from the center stage of the regime’s foreign relations and instead focuses on the tolerance and intolerance by foreign governments of the exiles’ activities.
This monumental work of scholarship encompasses political correspondence, personal memoirs, newspapers, British and U.S. sources, and various public and private archives in Venezuela. Historians, as well as political scientists working on themes related to dictatorships and opposition, will find the book of interest.
“In his encyclopedic analysis of the politics of the Gomez regime, the author depicts Gomez as neither a simple tyrant nor a puppet of foreign interests, but as a consummately skilled politician who enjoyed broad domestic support. . . . McBeth’s work represents a major scholarly achievement in Venezuelan history . . . this is an essential book for anyone interested in modern Venezuelan history, and provides interesting insights into the contemporary political dynamics of that country.” —The Journal of Latin American Studies
Brian S. McBeth is a Senior Common Room Member of St. Antony's College, Oxford. He is the author of a number of books, including Gunboats, Corruption, and Claims: Foreign Intervention in Venezuela, 1899–1908.