Chile's Return to Democracy

Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela

From Foreign Affairs, Winter 1989/90

Article preview: first 500 of 6,616 words total.

Summary:  Chile once boasted a longer history of stable democratic rule than most of its neighbors and much of Western Europe. Now it is the last major country on the South American continent to return to civilian government after a wave of authoritarianism. In December Chileans will have elected a new president after 16 years in the formidable grip of General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. That election should set U.S.-Chilean relations, plagued by a history of intervention and mistrust, on a more constructive, cooperative course.

Pamela Constable is an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow on leave from her position as Latin America Correspondent for The Boston Globe to study military rule in Chile. Arturo Valenzuela is Professor of Government, Director of the Latin American Studies Program at Georgetown University and author of several books on Chile. The authors are collaborating on a book about the Pinochet years to be published by 1991.

Chile once boasted a longer history of stable democratic rule than most of its neighbors and much of Western Europe. Now it is the last major country on the South American continent to return to civilian government after a wave of authoritarianism. In December Chileans will have elected a new president after 16 years in the formidable grip of General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. That election should set U.S.-Chilean relations, plagued by a history of intervention and mistrust, on a more constructive, cooperative course.

Chile's transition to civilian rule has been remarkably smooth, despite several anxious moments. In a plebiscite on October 5, 1988, the people rejected Pinochet's bid to remain in power through 1997. The dictator conceded his defeat, opening the way for presidential and congressional elections, rather than clinging to power by force. Slowly the nation's tradition of democratic politics has reemerged, turning back the regime's attempt to uproot the system of partisan politics forever.

What explains this success? The credit goes not so much to Pinochet, who had become as addicted to power as Noriega or Duvalier, and had every intention of remaining in office for a quarter-century. But his ambitions were thwarted by two elements. First, Chile's deeply rooted democratic and law-abiding political culture has survived 16 years of repression. During the transition, government opponents across the spectrum have proven themselves capable of uniting for a common purpose and have resisted radical behavior that might jeopardize the return to civilian control.

Second, the armed forces have remained highly disciplined, professional and uncorrupted despite unprecedented proximity to power. Sworn to uphold the transition formula envisioned in their own 1980 constitution, they vetoed any suggestion of illegal or forceful intervention to retain political control when their own commander in chief was defeated at the polls last October.

Of equal importance to assuring a smooth transition is Chile's current economic stability. While first-term civilian leaders in Peru, Brazil and Argentina inherited severe economic and political problems, the Pinochet government's macroeconomic policies have placed the country on an exceptionally sound fiscal footing. Inflation has steadied at 13 percent, export earnings have nearly doubled since 1985, deficits are under control and clever debt-equity swaps have reduced the $20-billion foreign debt by almost $2 billion. Although these gains have come at the cost of painful cutbacks in social spending and severe wage restraints, Chile's populace of 13 million, with a large middle class and relatively low levels of extreme poverty, is better off than most of its South American neighbors.

The path back to civilian rule has been long and frustrating for Chile's democratic forces, but the dire predictions by both sides that last fall's plebiscite would collapse in a cycle of protest and repression did not come true. The hodgepodge of opposition parties, reluctantly accepting a transition formula designed to favor Pinochet, overcame years of squabbling to unite in a successful campaign against the dictator. The voters, displaying enormous civic maturity and patience, turned out in record numbers (90 percent of ...

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