Focusing on post-1958 party system evolution in Venezuela, this study examines how elite reactions to four defining events diluted relationships between structural cleavages and partisanship. These events were the unification of elite factions behind procedural democracy, post-1973 increases in state income from the international sale of petroleum, the late 1980s economic downturn and the armed forces' failure to gain widespread support for a military government following the initially popular coup attempt of 4 February 1992. The structural cleavages that orientated partisanship early in the democratic experience divided the poor from others, the Caracas-dominated center from the periphery, city-dwellers from rural residents, and locations in which traditional culture prevailed from those dominated by modern culture. The partisan-orientating impact of the first two structural cleavages declined after elite agreements and high international prices for petroleum provided resources that allowed the dominant Acción Democrática (AD - Democratic Action) and Partido Socialcristiano (COPEI - Social Christian Party) political parties to coopt multi-class support. The latter structural cleavages eroded in response to economic development and gradually lost their political relevance.
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