The two renovations of the Chilean left

In this document, the author maintains that to understand the renovation of the Chilean Left, it is necessary to emphasize its two historical stages; the second one of them is still underway. The first stage of renovation started after the 1973 coup d’état, when political leaders and followers underwent a slow but profound process of accepting the democratic paradigm.

The second stage of renovation entails the ongoing process of accepting the market economy not only as the ‘least worst’ alternative but as a valid and necessary one. The main Concertación leaders’ thorough understanding of the meaning and scope of the market economy makes the analysis all the more complex. Pinochet’s dictatorship made an important part of the Chilean Left revalue the pre-1973 democratic Right. On the other hand, the “Unidad Popular” experience made the democratic Right value the moderate Left and made it willing to build consensus as of 1990. The second renovation of the Chilean Left can only be understood in view of this broad and growing environment of consensus-building. The Left’s transformation towards democracy and market economy is the main basis of the consolidation and deepening of the Chilean model.

Pedro Isern is President of the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL). He has a Masters in Political Philosophy (London School of Economics and Political Sciences), a Masters in Economics and Political Science (ESEADE – Buenos Aires) and is a Bachelor of Arts in Political Sciences (Universidad de San Andres – Buenos Aires). He contributed with the book Mitos del Milenio. El fin del trabajo y los nuevos profetas del Apocalipsis (Myths of the Millennium. The End of Work and the New Prophets of the Apocalypsis). Buenos Aires: CADAL / TIMBRO, 2004.