Neoliberalism and the Quality of Democracy in Chile

Abstract

In response to the wave of democratic transitions which swept Latin America beginning in the 1980s, the preoccupation of most scholars of Latin American politics shifted, from examining how democratic regimes can be established and sustained to how they can be improved. In this regional quest to improve democracy, researchers and policymakers confront a significant challenge—how to enable traditionally marginalized segments of the population to share the benefits of economic and political reform. This issue is particularly pressing for at least two reasons. First, even in countries that have experienced commendable growth under neo-liberalism, inequality has increased and poverty remains a substantial, if not growing, problem (Korenciewicz and Smith 2000). Second, the persistence of high rates of poverty and inequality, coupled with other issues of concern—government corruption, continued human rights abuses, and the persistent lack of accountability of civilian and military leaders, to name but a few—calls into question the ability of these new democratic regimes to protect and promote their citizens’ welfare (O’Donnell 2001).