Chile, a Century of Struggle for the Democratization of the Regions. Minimized Representation and Transverse Centralism

Abstract

The article reviews the Chilean history contrasting the centralist presidentialist hegemony to the main struggles that have driven to a process of decentralization in the last decade. After the failure of federalism in the 19th century and the lack of implementation of the provincial assembly ruled by the Constitution of 1925, the conformation of a centralist authoritarism that has marked for almost two centuries the Chilean institutional history took hold. This centralist authoritarianism is revealed by the isolated regionalist demand during the 20th century and by the reluctance of both majoritarian coalitions to decentralize. This centralist homogeneous state was the origin of the Mapuche conflict and of the demand for metropolitan governments under a strong process of urbanization. Moreover, the double-discourse of the elite that attempts to avoid a process of substantial regional democratization is also an expression of this political tendency. This article follows the methodology of analysis of actors and agendas in addition to a description of the centralized dominant mentality assumed by both the right and the left wing. It concludes that there is a partial transformation of this presicrática hegemony which reduces the current process of decentralization underway in Chile to a low incremental dual model.