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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Chile
Index
In the early 1990s, Chile had a strong, ideologically
based
multiparty system, with a clear division among parties of
the
right, center, and left. Chile's parties traditionally
have been
national in scope, penetrating into remote regions of the
country
and structuring politics in small villages and provincial
capitals.
Party affiliation has served as the organizing concept in
leadership contests in universities and private
associations,
including labor unions and professional associations.
Political
tendencies are passed from generation to generation and
constitute
an important part of an individual's identity.
By the middle of the twentieth century, each of Chile's
political tendencies represented roughly one-third of the
electorate. The left was dominated by the Socialist Party
(Partido
Socialista--PS) and the Communist Party of Chile (Partido
Comunista
de Chile--PCCh), the right by the Liberal Party (Partido
Liberal)
and the Conservative Party (Partido Conservador), and the
center by
the anticlerical Radical Party (Partido Radical--PR),
which was
replaced as Chile's dominant party by the Christian
Democratic
Party (Partido Demócrata Cristiano--PDC) in the 1960s.
Although ideological polarization characterized party
politics
until the 1960s, political coalitions across party lines
helped to
mitigate conflict. Party politics dominated both the
national
arena, where ideological objectives predominated, and the
local
arena, which focused on more clientelistic concerns. The
interplay
between these two levels helped moderate interparty
conflict.
Polarization increased markedly, however, in the wake of
the 1959
Cuban Revolution as parties radicalized their programs,
seeking to
achieve hegemony over their rivals in an increasingly
desperate
attempt to control Chile's future.
The military authorities believed that their policies
would
fundamentally change the traditional party system.
Repression,
legal restrictions, and new legislation governing parties
and
elections, combined with profound underlying changes in
the
nation's social structure, would render the old parties
obsolete.
Although the authorities conceded by 1985, in the
aftermath of
national protests, that they had not destroyed the party
system,
they remained intent on designing rules that would change
its basic
physiognomy. In March 1987, the Law of Political Parties
was
adopted, which provided for stringent requirements that
officials
of the military government believed the old parties could
not meet.
The law requires each legal party to obtain signatures
equivalent
to 5 percent of the electorate in at least eight regions,
or in at
least three contiguous regions. It also places
restrictions on
party activities and regulates party financing, internal
organization, and selection of leaders, specifying that
top party
leaders be chosen democratically by rank-and-file members.
However, Chile's parties were able to adjust well to
the law.
Indeed, the requirement for a large number of signatures
gave party
leaders a strong incentive to mobilize grass-roots support
and
strengthen local party organizations. The selection of
party
leadership through democratic means helped legitimize the
leaders
who fought the military government, leaders whom the
authorities
had often characterized as unrepresentative.
Data as of March 1994
The Party System
In the early 1990s, Chile had a strong, ideologically
based
multiparty system, with a clear division among parties of
the
right, center, and left. Chile's parties traditionally
have been
national in scope, penetrating into remote regions of the
country
and structuring politics in small villages and provincial
capitals.
Party affiliation has served as the organizing concept in
leadership contests in universities and private
associations,
including labor unions and professional associations.
Political
tendencies are passed from generation to generation and
constitute
an important part of an individual's identity.
By the middle of the twentieth century, each of Chile's
political tendencies represented roughly one-third of the
electorate. The left was dominated by the Socialist Party
(Partido
Socialista--PS) and the Communist Party of Chile (Partido
Comunista
de Chile--PCCh), the right by the Liberal Party (Partido
Liberal)
and the Conservative Party (Partido Conservador), and the
center by
the anticlerical Radical Party (Partido Radical--PR),
which was
replaced as Chile's dominant party by the Christian
Democratic
Party (Partido Demócrata Cristiano--PDC) in the 1960s.
Although ideological polarization characterized party
politics
until the 1960s, political coalitions across party lines
helped to
mitigate conflict. Party politics dominated both the
national
arena, where ideological objectives predominated, and the
local
arena, which focused on more clientelistic concerns. The
interplay
between these two levels helped moderate interparty
conflict.
Polarization increased markedly, however, in the wake of
the 1959
Cuban Revolution as parties radicalized their programs,
seeking to
achieve hegemony over their rivals in an increasingly
desperate
attempt to control Chile's future.
The military authorities believed that their policies
would
fundamentally change the traditional party system.
Repression,
legal restrictions, and new legislation governing parties
and
elections, combined with profound underlying changes in
the
nation's social structure, would render the old parties
obsolete.
Although the authorities conceded by 1985, in the
aftermath of
national protests, that they had not destroyed the party
system,
they remained intent on designing rules that would change
its basic
physiognomy. In March 1987, the Law of Political Parties
was
adopted, which provided for stringent requirements that
officials
of the military government believed the old parties could
not meet.
The law requires each legal party to obtain signatures
equivalent
to 5 percent of the electorate in at least eight regions,
or in at
least three contiguous regions. It also places
restrictions on
party activities and regulates party financing, internal
organization, and selection of leaders, specifying that
top party
leaders be chosen democratically by rank-and-file members.
However, Chile's parties were able to adjust well to
the law.
Indeed, the requirement for a large number of signatures
gave party
leaders a strong incentive to mobilize grass-roots support
and
strengthen local party organizations. The selection of
party
leadership through democratic means helped legitimize the
leaders
who fought the military government, leaders whom the
authorities
had often characterized as unrepresentative.
Data as of March 1994
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