This is a question I’ve been meaning to ask for a very long time.
Candidates:
- Syria (ruled by Assad of the Ba’athist party, which seems to be a form of Arab Socialism)
- Nicaragua (ruled by a Socialist party, surprised they haven’t went the China route already… but then again they’re within the close proximity of Usonia, so I guess it makes sense)
- Nepal (So many Communist Parties + Already ruled by one, it would be a huge shame if it doesn’t turn Socialist or go that route)
There are likely other countries too that has the potential to turn Socialist/Leftist, like Peru; but I don’t know much about them so I didn’t put them in there. Sorry about that. But anyway, which country do you think will be the next/Sixth AES country?
I don’t consider Venezuela socialist, but not because of the Bolivarian revolution. The majority of the economy is still privatized and at the heel of capitalists. And the news media is mostly liberal. The proletariat isn’t in charge yet.
It is true that Venezuela do not have the material condition for the Socialist stage due to their dependency on oil export, the Neo-Liberal policy to specialize in only one industry, the sanction from the NATO, the thief of gold reserves in the UK, and the emigration of skilled workers. However, the Venezuelan Socialist government is now supporting many successful small entreprise and self-employed business in the cities which allow for a real competitive market economy that is suitable for the local material condition before the advancement to a Socialist stage of the economy that does not depend on oil, unlike Capitalist countries that impose heavy government intervention to support a few large capitalist class contrary to their slogan of minimal government intervention.
Assuming that’s true, it’s a reasonable argument. I’d be interested in data showing how much of the PPP-based GDP is state-owned in Venezuela
OECD says 18 of base gdp is state owned enterprise.
18%? If accurate, that’s very low, but it also depends on what aspects of the economy remain privatized (e.g. food production, education, oil extraction, etc.)