Some Problems in the Interpretation of Recent Chilean History

Abstract

It is necessary to begin this article by explaining the motives for writing it. I have recently completed a draft of a long chapter on Chile from 1958 to the present day, for the final volume of the Cambridge History of Latin America. There is no shortage of material available for writing such a chapter, either on the economy of Chile in that period, or on poUtical development, or on changes in the social structure. There is also no shortage of rival or conflicting interpretations. On reading this material, and on trying to organise it into a coherent narrative, there were certain key themes that seemed to me to be unresolved. Of course, some of these puzzles will be resolved by further research, or by research of a different style. Moreover, some of the questions will perhaps seem obvious to another student of Chile. One of the few positive products of the prolonged period of dictatorial rule since 1973 has been a remarkable increase in the quantity and quality of pubUshed research by Chileans on their own country. Ejeeted from the world of Chilean universities, with their time-consuming involvement in poUtical activities and bureaucratic struggles, Chilean academics in independent research centres, now funded largely from abroad, have had to pubUsh or perish. Underlying a great deal of this research has been a common question: how could a society Uke Chile, with soUd political traditions and wellorganised poUtical parties, witness an unprecedented breakdown of social relationships and political order, and give rise to an extremely personaUsed authoritarian dictatorship with a capacity to survive second only to the Paraguay of Stroessner.1 There have undoubtedly been important advances in unraveUing the complexities of aspects of Chilean society, the poUtical system and the economy. Nevertheless, there are questions that still need to be investigated, connections that still need to be made, or assumptions that still need to be questioned. For example, although aU commentators stress the centrality of parties in Chilean poUtical life, most work on parties tends to concentrate on the ideological level: very few look at how parties were organised, how decisions were taken inside the parties, or what the balance of power was between the various sectors of the parties.2 The intention of this article is to draw attention to some of the debates taking place in Chile.3 It is organised around three major questions?the role