Chilean Democratization
A history of Chilean democratization.
Contents
Kingdom of Chile and Araucanía
Within the viceroyalty of Peru, the captaincy general of Chile was established in 1541. In the 18th century it consolidated influence over a broad region covering the southern portion of South America, and came to be known as the Kingdom of Chile.
The Mapuche mounted a series of revolts which culminated in the destruction or abandonment of Angol, La Imperial, Osorno, Santa Cruz de Oñez, Valdivia and Villarrica. The Spanish were expelled from Araucanía and the Bío-Bío River Valley became a fortified frontier.
The southeastern portion of the viceroyalty of Peru, which included much of the kingdom's jurisdiction, was split off in 1776 to establish the viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.
War of Independence
When the Junta of Seville fell in early 1810, a regime known as Patria Vieja emerged. The First Junta was nominally led by Toro Zambrano but effective power was held by the secretary, Juan Martínez de Rozas. Zambrano died the next year and Rozas formally succeeded him. This provisional government declared itself royalist despite usurping the powers of the royal governor. Legislative elections were held in early 1811. José Miguel Carrera seized power through a coup in late 1811.
The Spanish mounted a counter-invasion in 1813 and the junta found itself divided between Carrera and Bernardo O'Higgins. The Battle of Rancagua in October 1814 marked the Reconquista of Chile.
Rebels including Carrera and O'Higgins fled to Argentina and regrouped with José de San Martín. The counter-counter-invasion was launched in early 1817. The Battle of Maipú in 1818 was a decisive victory, and forced the royalists back to Concepción. Independence was declared and the Patria Nueva regime emerged.
Republic of Chile
A series of civil wars in 1829, 1851, and 1859 consolidated power in a conservative Pelucones (aristocratic) government. The Constitution of 1833 laid out a unitarian presidential regime.
Araucanía was incorporated into the republic through a military occupation that lasted from the 1860s until 1883.
Through the War of the Pacific, Chile pushed north into Bolivia and Peru. Chile also laid claim to all of Patagonia, sparking conflict with Argentina. Ultimately this was resolved through the Boundary Treaty of 1881, in which the Strait of Magellan was recognized as Chilean and eastern Patagonia was recognized as Argentine.
TODO: learn more history: some combination of the Communist Party and Pinochet I'm guessing
Democratization
In October 1988, a presidential plebiscite was held to choose between a second 8-year term for Pinochet, or outright free elections. About 56% of the public voted against the regime; Pinochet's government then drafted a series of constitutional amendments and put them forward for another referendum, now held in July 1989, and these too passed. Free elections were organized for later that year.
Patricio Aylwin led Concertación to win the December general election by a landslide. He was sworn in as president in March 1981, finally ending the Pinochet regime.
TODO: learn more history!
From 2011 through 2013, student protests
Social Outburst
In October 2019, mass protests began in response to a fare hike in the Santiago Metro, but more generally over worsening socioeconomic inequality. This was referred to variably as a estallido social (social outburst) or as a wave of octubrismo (Octoberism). It is considered to have lasted until the defeat of the second plebiscite in September 2022.
Sebastián Piñera attempted to suppress the protests by deploying the military and invoking security laws. In particular, use of medida cautelar (preventative prison) to detain protestors indefinitely without trial became widespread.
The government was nonetheless quickly forced to broker a cross-party agreement for a constitutional plebiscite. Held in October 2020, the public overwhelmingly voted to elect a Constitutional Convention to draft a new constitution. This election was held in May 2021, and remarkably the two party system collapsed; Vamos por Chile retained the first place position but fell short of a majority, Lista del Apruebo fell to fourth place, and over a third of the elected members were independent.
This dissolution of conventional politics continued into the November 2021 presidential election. After the first round, Boric of the Frente Amplio and José Antonio Kast of the Republican Party were left, both minor parties at the time. Boric ultimately won the presidency.
In a September 2022 plebiscite however, the drafted Political Constitution of the Republic was rejected by a large margin. In May 2023, mandatory elections were held for a new Constitutional Council. Rightist parties led by the Republicans won a three-fifth, veto-proof majority in this body. Both of these outcomes were considered major defeats for the Boric government. However, the public also rejected the new constitution draft in a December 2023 plebiscite. Altogether, it remains unclear if there is general support for rewriting the constitution.