Title: United States and Russian Governments' Hegemonic Struggle for sphere of influence and the Post-Election Crisis in Venezuela: A Retrospect
Authors: Ofojebe, Chinedu Raphael, Prof. Charles, Arinze Obiora
Volume: 9
Issue: 12
Pages: 219-229
Publication Date: 2025/12/28
Abstract:
The result of the Venezuelan presidential election of 2018, like its 2013 counterpart, has plunged the country into a political crisis. It is a presidential crisis bordering essentially on who the legitimate President is. The crisis is characterized by violent demonstrations and clashes between the supporters of the two "Presidents" -Juan Guaido and Nicolas Maduro. The U.S. recognition and backing of the self-declared President-Juan Guaido and subsequent moves to force incumbent President Nicolas Maduro out of office resultantly met with stiff opposition in Russia's dogged and comprehensive support for Maduro's continued presidency. Scholars who have adduced different reasons for the on-going crisis therein have however not been able to establish a causal link between the U.S.-Russian rivalry over global influence and the continuity of the crisis in Venezuela. It is against this backdrop that the study investigates the U.S.-Russian rivalry and political crisis in Venezuela.The Two Persons' Zero-sum model of the Game theory of international politics provides the theoretical framework with which the study is better appreciated. While time series was adopted as the study's preferred research design, the documentary method and content analysis were deployed for data collection and analysis, respectively. The findings led to the validation of our hypothesis that the U.S.-Russian hegemonic struggle for sphere of influence has escalated the post-election crisis in Venezuela. Moreover, Russia and USA tended to have backed Venezuela diplomatically in various UN fora and has repeatedly blocked multilateral initiatives to punish or place embargoes on Venezuela (Rouvinski, 2019). Russia and USA has thus far shown much concern for outside interference in Venezuela's internal affairs. The study recommends for the amendment of Article 2.7 of the United Nations' Charter on Non-interference in domestic affairs as well as the passage of veto-striping resolutions.