Chile’s New Start

Roland Benedikter and Miguel Zlosilo

Challenge, 2022, vol. 65, issue 3-4, 113-124

Abstract: Chile is the Global South’s “exceptional nation” in terms of wealth and historical development patterns, but most recently it has been aligning with some of the geopolitical area’s traits. Together with the constitutional reform process, the resounding victory of the left under the lead of Gabriel Boric Font (born 1986) in Chile’s December 2021 presidential elections has opened up a new socio-political landscape for the country. At the center of the nation’s potential restart remains once again social policy which traditionally touches upon the core of Chile’s political culture and basic understanding of the institutions. The expectations for a “progressive renewal” are hopeful yet mixed. This article analyzes Chile‘s presidential election of 2021 and what the winning of the Social Convergence Party (Convergencia Social) means for the country‘s future. The reasons of the left‘s triumph, the national and the international implications of president Boric‘s government, and the cultural and institutional challenges facing the new government in terms of economic reforms could become examples for other areas in the Global South—both in the positive and in the negative sense. Due to its exceptional geographic, socio-cultural and institutional situation Chile may deserve the status of one of those rare “small states” in international affairs that infuse some case study teachings to their peers and the greater global community. Although the nation is relatively unique in its geopolitical environment, its potential as a model of a more balanced future in the Global South can be bigger than its actual regional size and influence.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1080/05775132.2022.2090749

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