Many Latin American countries have faced dictatorships in the second half of the twentieth century. In Chile, the human rights violations that were committed during the dictatorship under General...Show moreMany Latin American countries have faced dictatorships in the second half of the twentieth century. In Chile, the human rights violations that were committed during the dictatorship under General Augusto Pinochet still profoundly impact modern society. The question of how to address these violations has created a situation in which transitional justice gained relevance since the end of the dictatorship. However, traditional conceptualisations of transitional justice have overly focused on judicial dimensions and thereby disregarded other dimensions that are equally as relevant in the transition to a stable democracy. These dimensions include conceptualisations of cultural and linguistic rights that were popularised in the last two decades. This thesis explores the opportunities that an inclusion of effective language policies grounded in the idea of language rights provides to advance transitional justice. This link is investigated through the case of Mapudungun. The findings from this research suggest that the successful implementation of language policies addresses different dimensions of transitional justice and should therefore be included in transitional justice policies, thus aiding the process. The findings from the Chilean case can be beneficial in other transitional contexts in which the inclusion of cultural and linguistic dimensions could contribute to advance transitional justice.Show less
In the wake of massive protests in 2019, Chile embarked upon a massive project to rewrite the constitution. This process was started by a plebiscite in which the citizens voted on whether or not...Show moreIn the wake of massive protests in 2019, Chile embarked upon a massive project to rewrite the constitution. This process was started by a plebiscite in which the citizens voted on whether or not they wanted a new constitution, and who would be writing it. In 2022 another plebiscite sealed the fate of the resulting proposal. Direct democracy also ushered in the return of democracy and the end of 18 years of dictatorship. It is also often presented as a solution to declining rates of participation in elections. This thesis will make a start into exploring the relationship between participation and direct democracy. By contrasting interviews with several experts to the existing literature it provides a tentative overview. The findings point towards direct democracy not having a strong influence by itself on political participation. There are however several positive signs with regards to participation.Show less
This thesis examines to what extent authoritarianism persists in Chile's intelligence and security services since democratisation in 1990. The scars left by the oppressive regime of Augusto...Show moreThis thesis examines to what extent authoritarianism persists in Chile's intelligence and security services since democratisation in 1990. The scars left by the oppressive regime of Augusto Pinochet, and the brutal practices of the DINA and the CNI, continue to impact Chile and its intelligence agencies. The intelligence agencies cannot operate effectively due to the historical legacy of authoritarianism within Chilean intelligence services, this thesis examines which indicators affect the intelligence agencies. Incorporating evidence from literature and polling data, this thesis demonstrates three major factors in how authoritarianism persists in the Chilean intelligence services. This thesis argues that the deep-rooted issues of fear, distrust, polarisation, and their consequential effects present significant obstacles for the intelligence services to function optimally. The influence of the Pinochet era on the intelligence landscape of Chile is profound, as the regime relied heavily on repressive intelligence operations. The transition to democracy marked an important turning point, but the legacy of authoritarianism continues to cast a long shadow over the intelligence services. The trauma experienced during the Pinochet era has engendered fear, a deep lack of trust and polarisation, which negatively influence intelligence services.Show less
The main idea behind this thesis is to explore how exactly legitimacy has influenced Chile’s instability, and how this lack of legitimacy has led to protests and crises. The central question to...Show moreThe main idea behind this thesis is to explore how exactly legitimacy has influenced Chile’s instability, and how this lack of legitimacy has led to protests and crises. The central question to this thesis is as follows: “What is the role of legitimacy in the social uprising in Chile in October 2019?”. The question is answered by analyzing relevant topics such as legitimacy, governability, the transformation of a military dictatorship to democracy, challenges of a democracy, the concertación and social movements. Resulting in the following conclusion: legitimacy played a big role in the social uprising in Chile. As was found for this thesis, Chile has faced many problems with neoliberalism, social movements, as well as with legitimacy. Legitimacy, therefore, is only one of the many factors leading up to the crisis in Chile. Chile will continue to draft a new constitution that will hopefully unite Chile once again.Show less
In late 2019, Chile and Colombia witnessed mass protests of historic dimensions that united different generations, ideologies, and sectors of civil society in their dissatisfaction with their...Show moreIn late 2019, Chile and Colombia witnessed mass protests of historic dimensions that united different generations, ideologies, and sectors of civil society in their dissatisfaction with their governments, the current neoliberal model, its socio-economic policies and malaises like inequality, poverty, and violence. The mostly peaceful and brutally repressed protests vary in their immediate political outcomes. While the Chilean case can be considered a success story, which achieved the start of a constitutional reform process, Colombia’s protests did not induce any significant political transformation. Why do protests with similar characteristics lead to different short-term political outcomes? Applying a comparative case study of the most-similar cases of the 2019-2020 mass protests in Chile and Colombia, this study argues that classic explanations regarding endogenous and exogenous variables of social movements fall short of explaining these different outcomes. Instead, this article suggests that short-term protest “success” and “failure” can be better explained by a society’s history of repression and its consequences for collective experience with protest mobilization. This proposed hypothesis is based on a theoretical framework combining social movement literature and research on the repression-mobilization relationship and is examined in a document analysis of material from a wide array of sources on the protests.Show less
In this thesis the extent to which collective memory was central to the Chile’s Estallido Social in 2019 is examined. By using a meso-level analysis of collective memory, an analysis is presented...Show moreIn this thesis the extent to which collective memory was central to the Chile’s Estallido Social in 2019 is examined. By using a meso-level analysis of collective memory, an analysis is presented which uses social media posts and a historical perspective of the causes of the social awakening. A literature review is presented on the fields of collective memory and social movement to identify a gap in the literature. This gap is an emerging field that combines both collective memory and social movements. This thesis adds is a contribution to this emerging field and does so by analysing the aforementioned Chilean case study. The analysis concludes that the extent to which collective memory was central to the Estallido Social is great.Show less
The wave of social protests hitting Chile since October 2019 disclosed a socio-economic reality made of inequalities, far from Chile’s ostensible façade of a stable democracy and exemplary model of...Show moreThe wave of social protests hitting Chile since October 2019 disclosed a socio-economic reality made of inequalities, far from Chile’s ostensible façade of a stable democracy and exemplary model of economic growth in Latin America. This BA thesis explores historical and contingent motivations behind the social upheaval, investigating how feelings of relative depravation triggered Chileans to take action. Specifically, the study focuses on women’s perception of their group’s socio-economic disadvantage with related resentment and complaints, and on how protests dynamics favoured or hindered female participation in protest events.Show less
ESP: A partir de dos variables - el modelo económico neoliberal y las relaciones políticas internacionales de Chile - se investigan las políticas comerciales exteriores del país entre 1973 y 2019....Show moreESP: A partir de dos variables - el modelo económico neoliberal y las relaciones políticas internacionales de Chile - se investigan las políticas comerciales exteriores del país entre 1973 y 2019. Este intervalo temporal coincide, por un lado, con el principio de la dictadura de Augusto Pinochet y, por el otro, con el estallido social de octubre del año pasado que perturbó un país que, hasta unas semanas antes, se solía definir como ""un oasis de paz"" en un continente inquieto como América Latina. Para ello, se analizan factores como un sector manufacturero debilitado y la relación de fuerzas entre grandes conglomerados industriales y PYMEs. Asimismo, se considera la excesiva dependencia de Chile de las exportaciones de recursos naturales - sobre todo cobre - y otras mercancías con muy poco valor añadido a la luz de su elaborado marco de tratados de libre comercio: a tal propósito, se observa como se decidió privilegiar la explotación de las ventajas comparativas del país y la influencia del sector exportador sobre estas políticas. Lo anterior significó que un amplio y duradero desarrollo económico se fue debilitando y que Chile nunca ingresó la liga de los países completamente industrializados. Para esta tesis, se llevó a cabo un trabajo de campo en Santiago de Chile entre noviembre 2019 y febrero 2020. // ENG: Two variables - the neoliberal economic model and Chile's international political relations - move this investigation around the country's foreign trade policies between 1973 and 2019. Provided time interval coincides, on the one hand, with the beginning of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship and, on the other, with the outbreak of large-scale social protests which, in October last year, shook a country defined, until a few weeks earlier, as ""an oasis of peace"" in the eventful Latin America. Factors such as a weakened manufacturing sector, and the unbalanced relationship between large industrial groups (conglomerados) and local SMEs are addressed. Moreover, the flattening of economic development on exports of raw materials - copper in particular - and other products with no particular relevant added value is seen in the light of the establishment of a massive network of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements whose main aims have been exploiting Chile's comparative advantages and pleasing outward-looking economic sectors. As a result, a large-scale and long-term economic progress was undermined making the country unable to join the league of those fully developed. For such thesis, a fieldwork research was conducted in Santiago de Chile between November 2019 and February 2020.Show less
Through an analysis of state legitimacy theory, this thesis comparatively explores the Pinochet regime and Piñera administration. Using three widely accepted requirements of state legitimacy -...Show moreThrough an analysis of state legitimacy theory, this thesis comparatively explores the Pinochet regime and Piñera administration. Using three widely accepted requirements of state legitimacy - rationality, participation, and morality- the thesis analyzes the degree to which both governments can be considered legitimate. Particularly, the 2019 Chilean social uprising is investigated through both a contemporary and historically comparative lens in order to determine whether or not the Piñera administration is facing a legitimacy crisis.Show less
Throughout the 20th century, the discussion on abortion in Latin America has spurred multiple controversies which persist today primarily due to the significant role the Catholic Church plays in...Show moreThroughout the 20th century, the discussion on abortion in Latin America has spurred multiple controversies which persist today primarily due to the significant role the Catholic Church plays in the area. Despite the recent advances achieved through decriminalization, the region’s percentage of unsafe abortions is the highest in the world. Chile’s case appears particularly insightful in analyzing the discrepancy between the law and the practice of abortion reforms due to the recent evolvement of the legislative debate in September 2017. During Michelle Bachelet’s second presidency, the long-awaited Law 21.030 reversed a 28-year ban in place since Pinochet’s regime. Despite the de jure significance of the law, which formally decriminalized abortion in three specific circumstances, many legal, cultural, political and economic impediments persist to undermine the effectiveness of the law, severely affecting Chilean women’s access to safe abortion services. In this manner, women are continuously led to risk their lives by undergoing abortions in clandestine and unsafe conditions. This thesis attempts to gain a nuanced understanding of such trends. By adopting a multidisciplinary approach, this thesis presents a legal and cultural analysis of three of the main obstacles to women’s access to safe and legal abortions in Chile: the right of health providers to claim conscientious objection, the legacy of traditional gender roles and abortion stigma, and the impact of socio-economic inequality.Show less
The 11th of September, 1973 marked the beginning of an oppressive dictatorship in Chile, which lasted 17 years. Nowadays, the legacies of the dictatorship are still visible in Chilean society. This...Show moreThe 11th of September, 1973 marked the beginning of an oppressive dictatorship in Chile, which lasted 17 years. Nowadays, the legacies of the dictatorship are still visible in Chilean society. This thesis asks the question: To what extent was cultural trauma visible in the annual commemoration of the 1973 coup in Chile during the first presidency of Sebastián Piñera?Show less
This thesis seeks to investigate the possible connection between the precarious socioeconomic situation that dominates the lives of most Chileans and the historically unprecedented magnitude of...Show moreThis thesis seeks to investigate the possible connection between the precarious socioeconomic situation that dominates the lives of most Chileans and the historically unprecedented magnitude of protests that are currently shaking the country. The main research question will, therefore, take a close look at “How to understand the 2019 Chilean protests as a result of the structural inequalities produced by the radical neoliberal development strategy implemented in the 1980s? In order to make this research more tangible and feasible, the privatization of the social security (pension) system will serve as a case study to analyze the changing tolerance for inequality, as the demand for a pension system reform is one of the key drivers behind the ongoing social upheaval in Chile. The research questions will be answered by using the Hirschman “tunnel hypothesis” created in 1973 to investigate how societies in the early stages of rapid economic development have created a substantial tolerance for initial economic disparities, anticipating a future reduction of said disparities that will include everyone. Should these expectations never be met, considerable social discontent develops, that can result in disaster and turn previous supporters into enemies of the stateShow less
Scholars widely agree on what mostly drives fast economic growth from the low-income (LI) level to the middle-income (MI) one. However, when it comes to jumping from the MI level to the high-income...Show moreScholars widely agree on what mostly drives fast economic growth from the low-income (LI) level to the middle-income (MI) one. However, when it comes to jumping from the MI level to the high-income (HI) one, things become far more complex, as severe growth slowdowns become more frequent. This phenomenon, namely: the ‘middle-income trap’ (MIT), refers to the inherent challenges MI countries face in order to reach the HI status. The MIT is present in many comparative studies and policy models as empirical evidence suggests there are shared difficulties present at this level of income, and although it is still an ambiguous and undefined concept, its potential usefulness to guide policy-making is unmistakable, since the idea of a trap can be understood as universally applicable for developing economies struggling to achieve sustainable growth. Three bodies of MIT literature and their respective prescribed set of policies are categorized and analyzed in this study to determine which one can best attributed to the unique and successful case of Chile.Show less
Reggaeton has risen in popularity, spreading outside its continent of origin and entertaining both Latino and non-Latino people alike in recent years. However, the songs within this music style...Show moreReggaeton has risen in popularity, spreading outside its continent of origin and entertaining both Latino and non-Latino people alike in recent years. However, the songs within this music style have been criticized for their degrading lyrics that perpetuate machista behavior, which is still prevalent in Latin American countries like Chile. This paper analyses how machismo manifests in reggaeton and the extent to which its songs’ specifically vulgar lyrics affect Chilean women’s perception of gender roles, their self-worth and the state of gender equality in their society. This investigation has been conducted via an online survey in Chile among women between the ages of 18 and 30. The findings of the research indicate that the women are more or less likely to be affected by the lyrics based on their individual state of mind and demographic factors such as age, education level, and geographical location. However, seeing as the majority of the women that answered the survey could be categorized as members of the middle- and upper-classes, the results cannot be generalized beyond these particular strata of women without further research. Nonetheless, the data indicates that reggaeton still plays a role in the reproduction of machismo in Chilean society.Show less
