Skip to main content

New Political Cycle in Chile: From Centrist Consensus to the Struggle for Cultural Hegemony

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Latin America’s Pendular Politics

Part of the book series: Studies of the Americas ((STAM))

  • 174 Accesses

Abstract

Most literature on political change in Latin America over the past two decades has focused on describing pendular right/left dynamics. This division, however, is insufficient to capture the nuances contained in each category. The centrist consensus (Giddens 1994) and the emergence of various expressions of a “new conservatism” also blurred the boundary between “conservatism” and “progressivism” when the right with an intent to broaden its projection towards new electorates chose to moderate its programs and adopt left-wing issues such as ecology, quality of life, women's rights, or sexual dissidence. In this sense, alternations can have different natures. Sometimes they guarantee continuity, other times change.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    This exhaustion was also reflected by Marco Enríquez-Ominami, then thirty-six, who resigned from the PS to compete in the election as an independent in response to the PS’s refusal to hold a primary between him and Frei, a decision paving the way to Frei’s defeat.

  2. 2.

    First, Laurence Golborne, a former minister who achieved popularity thanks to having led the rescue of the thirty-three miners in Atacama, had to renounce his run for president following controversies involving his past as a businessman. Then, after winning the sector’s primary, Minister of Economy Pablo Longueira dropped out of the race due to suffering depression, after which Evelyn Matthei, then Minister of Labor, was nominated.

  3. 3.

    This case involved supposed trafficking of influence for a multi-million-dollar real-estate operation between March 2014 and February 2015 by Sebastián Dávalos, son of then president Bachelet and director of the Sociocultural Area of the Presidency of his mother’s second government.

  4. 4.

    Programa de gobierno 2018–2022. Construyamos tiempos mejores para Chile (30 de octubre, 2017).

  5. 5.

    Interviews to Alberto Mayol, Daniela López and Carlos Ruiz. September 2022.

  6. 6.

    Interviews to Alberto Mayol and Carlos Ruiz. September 2022.

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stéphanie Alenda .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Alenda, S., Arce-Riffo, J. (2023). New Political Cycle in Chile: From Centrist Consensus to the Struggle for Cultural Hegemony. In: Dabène, O. (eds) Latin America’s Pendular Politics. Studies of the Americas. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26761-1_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics