Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2022
The new democracy in Chile provides an interesting test case for two influential lines of thinking on Latin American political economy. Both these perspectives have claimed that the recently installed civilian regimes would find it exceedingly difficult to effect equity-enhancing change. One hypothesis has stressed the impediments posed by a capitalist free-market system to measures favoring the poor. The other has emphasized the obstacles presented by a transition to democracy that avoids a rupture with the preceding conservative dictatorship. Because the democratic government led by Patricio Aylwin (1990–1994) faced both types of constraints, it should have been particularly unlikely to achieve greater social fairness.
I am grateful to David Bartlett, Edward Epstein, Evelyne Huber, Kenneth Roberts, Eduardo Silva, five anonymous LARR reviewers, and especially Wendy Hunter for many helpful comments. I would also like to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities and the University Research Council of Vanderbilt University for generous financial support of my field research.