Please Mind the Gap: Autonomization and Street Politics

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the central idea that in the last decade political parties and other forms of traditional representation have lost their influence, articulation capacity, and most of the citizens’ trust. On the other hand, social movements strengthened their autonomy, constituting themselves as a social actor. The latter has been achieved through massive demonstrations, grassroot organization, and other contentious collective actions. In Chile, the political and economic model was confronted from “the streets” since October 2019. This social outbreak and the social movement that ensued possess characteristics that seem to be qualitatively different as regards the way social movements understood and practiced politics before. Our objective is to identify these particularities, paying special attention to how these unfold themselves, despite the repression, in the context of the ongoing process of autonomization from political parties.