MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Chile
Index
The so-called Parliamentary Republic was not a true
parliamentary system, in which the chief executive is
elected by
the legislature. It was, however, an unusual regime in
presidentialist Latin America, for Congress really did
overshadow
the rather ceremonial office of the president and exerted
authority
over the chief executive's cabinet appointees. In turn,
Congress
was dominated by the landed elites. This was the heyday of
classic
political and economic liberalism.
For many decades thereafter, historians derided the
Parliamentary Republic as a quarrel-prone system that
merely
distributed spoils and clung to its laissez-faire policy
while
national problems mounted. The characterization is
epitomized by an
observation made by President Ramón Barros Luco (1910-15),
reputedly made in reference to labor unrest: "There are
only two
kinds of problems: those that solve themselves and those
that can't
be solved." At the mercy of Congress, cabinets came and
went
frequently, although there was more stability and
continuity in
public administration than some historians have suggested.
Political authority ran from local electoral bosses in
the
provinces through the congressional and executive
branches, which
reciprocated with payoffs from taxes on nitrate sales.
Congressmen
often won election by bribing voters in this clientelistic
and
corrupt system. Many politicians relied on intimidated or
loyal
peasant voters in the countryside, even though the
population was
becoming increasingly urban.
The lackluster presidents and ineffectual
administrations of
the period did little to respond to the country's
dependence on
volatile nitrate exports, spiraling inflation, and massive
urbanization. They also ignored what was called "the
social
question." This euphemism referred mainly to the rise of
the labor
movement and its demands for better treatment of the
working class.
Critics complained that the upper class, which had given
Chile such
dynamic leadership previously, had grown smug and
lethargic thanks
to the windfall of nitrate wealth.
In recent years, however, particularly when the
authoritarian
regime of Augusto Pinochet is taken into consideration,
some
scholars have reevaluated the Parliamentary Republic of
1891-1925.
Without denying its shortcomings, they have lauded its
democratic
stability. They have also hailed its control of the armed
forces,
it respect for civil liberties, its expansion of suffrage
and
participation, and its gradual admission of new
contenders,
especially reformers, to the political arena.
In particular, two young parties grew in
importance--the
Democrat Party, with roots among artisans and urban
workers, and
the Radical Party, representing urban middle sectors and
provincial
elites. By the early twentieth century, both parties were
winning
increasing numbers of seats in Congress. The more leftist
members
of the Democrat Party became involved in the leadership of
labor
unions and broke off to launch the Socialist Workers'
Party
(Partido Obrero Socialista--POS) in 1912. The founder of
the POS
and its best-known leader, Luis Emilio Recabarren Serrano,
also
founded the Communist Party of Chile (Partido Communista
de Chile--
PCCh), which was formed in 1922.
Data as of March 1994
|
|