Conclusion

Abstract

The relationship between social and political democratization is complex. As the analyses of O’Donnell and Valenzuela have shown, consolidating political democracy is a delicate process in its own right.¹ In this study, however, we have been concerned to show how the stakes involved during the inception of political democracy may also affect the prospects for social democratization. In particular, we have highlighted in the Chilean case how it was quite feasible to progress rapidly through what Valenzuela calls ‘precedent-setting political confrontations’² — that is, confrontations that contribute to a process of consolidation, and at the same time set clear limits to future efforts at social democratization. In particular, we have argued that the relationship between democracy and development in Chile has been coloured by the force of the neo-liberal movement of the 1980s, and the overriding concern with the separation between public and private spheres. Hence, the case of occupational citizenship presents a challenge in the Chilean context largely because of the contradiction that appears to exist between the nature of human development, which requires time and deliberate efforts, on the one hand, and the generation of short-term relationships and withdrawal of planning in public life, which was a legacy of the neo-liberal phase.