CIVIL- MILITARY RELATIONS: CASE STUDY-VENEZUELA.

There is an intricate relationship between the Venezuelan military and its politics since the time of independence in 1830. Military had functioned as an institution of state power till 1958. The pattern of civil-military relations does not exist in pure form and often show a tendency to metamorphose from one to another. This article will try to explore this metamorphosis in the context of Venezuela with the changes in its socio-economic structure. It particularly examines the re-militarisation of politics under the administration of Hugo Chávez. The re-militarisation of politics took place by reorienting the military roles and missions into internal defence and security and developmental works and through the constitution of 1999 which dismantled the traditional control of the armed forces developed during Punto Fijo (period from 1958-1998) or the period of pacted democracy .