Strongmen Strike Back in Burma and Venezuela

Two particularly noxious regimes now are confronted with what might be called the Polish communists’ dilemma. The military regime of Burma and the self-styled “Bolivarian socialists” of Venezuela each staged elections this fall on the expectation that, even if they lost, the constitutional and political structures they created to guarantee their power would save them. Burma’s generals wrote constitutional provisions granting themselves a quarter of the parliament’s seats, as well as control of powerful ministries, regardless of the election results. In Caracas, the Chavista regime of Nicolás Maduro told itself that it would still have the presidency, the military and the courts on its side even if it lost its majority in the National Assembly.