Local Democracy and the Transformation of Popular Participation

Abstract

The close linkages between parties and society that characterized Chile’s pre-coup period were developed most effectively at the local level of government. The intensity of these ties grew exponentially during the late sixties and early seventies in response to the growing ideological polarization emanating from the party system, particularly between the centrist PDC and its leftist competitors. During this period Chile convulsed with grass-roots political activity. Rallies, demonstrations, and land seizures were increasingly common in shantytowns surrounding Santiago and other major urban centers. Perhaps unwittingly, the Christian Democrats under President Eduardo Frei Montalvo (1964–70) facilitated this intense grass-roots mobilization. The party established a corporatist program through municipal government, Promoción Popular (Popular Promotion), which it hoped would provide a monopoly of influence over previously marginalized and unincorporated segments of the population. In this manner, the PDC intended to broaden its base of support and establish itself as the ultimate arbiter of Chile’s political destiny. Instead, it alienated the right and provoked intense competition from the left. Like the Christian Democrats, the Socialists and Communists aggressively organized, mobilized, and encouraged previously marginalized segments of the population to demand greater responsiveness and resources from the state.