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Civil Society and Political Representation in Latin America (2010-2015) pp 55–72Cite as

Institutionalization Versus Responsiveness: The Dilemma of Political Representation in Chile

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Abstract

Despite usually being characterized as one of the most stable and institutionalized political systems in Latin America, Chile during the second decade of the twenty-first century has become the scenario of a multitude of social movements and collective actions that in some cases emerged and in other became visible, questioning the political and economic consensus that had prevailed in the country since the end of the dictatorship. This chapter will focus on trying to understand this dealignment of the country’s civil society and its political elites.

The authors are grateful to Emma Johnston for her comments and translation

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In contrast to other new parties (e.g. PPD and RN), the UDI does not position itself as the successor to a pre-1973 party, while, the Party for Democracy (PPD) included, at his foundation, most part of the “social democrat wing” of the Socialist party.

  2. 2.

    (1) Human rights, all those linked to actions concerning the dictatorship, memory and human rights violations; (2) civil rights, understood as those demands which concern personal freedoms such as gay marriage, equality, abortion rights and others; (3) regional movements, bringing together those disputes focusing on local issues; (4) student movements, with regard to all actions in the context of education; (5) sectorial or trade union actions, any collective action involving the action of a particular group in pursuit of their own demands, strikes of workers, farmers or temporary workers, etc.; (6) complaints in the context of the mobilization of indigenous communities and organizations; and (7) the “other” category brings together heterogeneous movements which do not fit in the other six categories (religious and environmentalist, amongst others).

  3. 3.

    The Chilean military regime, in contrast to the Argentinian and Uruguayan cases, managed to bring about profound socio-economic transformations as well as changes to the Constitution.

  4. 4.

    The two Socialist Parties (Almeyda and Núñez), the PPD, the Radical Party, the Social Democratic Party, MAPU, the Izquierda Cristiana, etc.

  5. 5.

    With the fusion of parties (Radical Party and Social Democrats = PRSD), the restructuring of the Socialist Party, the takeover or collapse of small parties (MAPU, IC), only 4 of the 17 founding parties remained a year later: PDC, PPD, PS and PRSD.

  6. 6.

    Huneeus (2000) demonstrated that, amongst the parliamentarians of the 1989–2001 period, 62.4% of UDI legislators and 44.9% of RN legislators had held posts in the military government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of International Training, Valparaiso, Chile

    Victor Tricot

  2. Federal University of ABC (UFABC), Santo André, Brazil

    Adrián Albala

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  1. Victor Tricot
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Correspondence to Victor Tricot .

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  1. Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC), Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil

    Adrián Albala

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Tricot, V., Albala, A. (2018). Institutionalization Versus Responsiveness: The Dilemma of Political Representation in Chile. In: Albala, A. (eds) Civil Society and Political Representation in Latin America (2010-2015). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67801-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67801-6_3

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