Shifting opportunities :|comparing the dynamics of 2014 and 2017 Venezuelan protests

Abstract

This thesis explores the 2014 and 2017 street protests in Venezuela in accordance with the opposition elites and the Maduro government's approach to the street protests. For this review, answers were sought to the following questions: How can the repertoires and strategies of opposition and repression of the government actors to the 2014 and 2017 protests be explained? Which changes and continuities were observed in the approaches of these actors? What could be the motive behind the actor’s approaches to the protest cycle? In response to these questions, the hypothesis argues that the motive behind the change and continuity in the approaches of the opposition and government to protests is political opportunity. The variability in political opportunities, the emergence of new opportunities, the end of some determines the approach of each party to the protest cycle. At the same time, the actors were more mechanically treated in the social science literature, but according to the framework of the paper, these political opportunities were also added to the actors' learning practice, and these changes were explained by agency approach. Accordingly, the thesis presents a comparison both in terms of continuity and the change in the behavior of the contention parties from 2014 to 2017 and offers the opportunity to compare how these actors adapted and responded to the changes in each other's behaviors.