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5 - Chile, 1930 — 58

from PART TWO - CHILE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

Paul Drake
Affiliation:
University of California at San Diego
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Summary

During the three decades after 1930 — and indeed until the coup which brought down the government of Salvador Allende in 1973 — Chilean politics were unique in Latin America. Only Chile sustained in this period an electoral democracy including major Marxist parties. And for almost fifteen years, between 1938 and 1952, Radical presidents held power through the support, erratic but persistent, of both the Socialists and the Communists, with lasting consequences for the nation's political development. These multi-party governments based on multi-class alliances simultaneously pursued industrial growth and social reform. They failed, however, to attack the roots of Chilean underdevelopment in either the latifundia-dominated rural sector or the United States-dominated external sector.

From the 1930s Chilean reformers criticized the excessive national dependence on the foreign sector that had been highlighted by the world depression. After that crisis, Chile gradually achieved greater self-sufficiency: between the 1920s and the 1940s the estimated share of gross domestic product (GDP) being sold abroad declined from approximately 40 to 20 per cent, as did foreign capital as a proportion of the total capital in Chile. By contrast, direct U.S. investments grew by 80 per cent from 1940 to 1960, the vast majority of this foreign capital going to the mining sector. Overwhelmingly controlled by U.S. companies from the 1920s to the 1960s, copper came to account for some 50 per cent of Chilean exports, copper and nitrates nearly 80 per cent. Not only was the United States the leading foreign investor in Chile; it also regained its position as Chile's premier trading partner after a spurt of German competition in the 1930s.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1991

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References

Arturo, Olavarria Bravo, Chile entrt dos Alasandri, 4 vols. (Santiago, 1962, 1965), vol. 1Google Scholar
Cruz, Aníbal Pinto Santa (ed.), Antecedents sobre el desarrollo de la economia chtlena, 1925 — 1952 (Santiago, 1954)Google Scholar
Cruz, Anibal Pinto Santa, Chile, un caso de desarrollo frustradc (Santiago, 1962)Google Scholar
Erico, Hott KindermanLes sociedades agríolas nacionales y sit influencia en la agricultura de Chile (Santiago, 1944)Google Scholar
Federico, G. GilInformation on the sample survey as well as other aspects of the second Ibanez period can be found in, The Political System of Chile (Boston, 1966)Google Scholar
Flavián, Levine B. and Juan, Crocco Ferrari, ‘La población chilena’, Economia, 5 nos. 10—11 (1944)Google Scholar
Isauro, Torres and Pedro, Opīrz, Defensa de los gobīernos de izquierda (Santiago, 1942)Google Scholar
Mamalakis, Markos J.Historical Statistics of Chile, 2 vols. (Westport, Conn., 1979, 1980), vol. 2Google Scholar
Rafael, Luis Gumucio, Me defttndo (Santiago, 1939)Google Scholar

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  • Chile, 1930 — 58
  • Edited by Leslie Bethell
  • Book: The Cambridge History of Latin America
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521266529.006
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  • Chile, 1930 — 58
  • Edited by Leslie Bethell
  • Book: The Cambridge History of Latin America
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521266529.006
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Chile, 1930 — 58
  • Edited by Leslie Bethell
  • Book: The Cambridge History of Latin America
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521266529.006
Available formats
×