Summary
Jan de Kievid
Tien jaar na de dictatuur : Chili's onvoltooide overgang naar democratie
Jan de Kievid discusses democracy in Chile, ten years after the end of the military dictatorship. The moderate socialist Ricardo Lagos has been elected as the third president of the center-left coalition. He will govern a country with a good macro-economic performance, but also with increasing social inequality. Because of its stability the Chilean transition to democracy is often praised as a model. However, the author argues that this transition is not yet completed and that the military and the political right retain quite a lot of undemocratic power. A serious problem is posed by the absence of parties of the democratic right. Chile can be described as a consolidated, but still restricted democracy. Perhaps Pinochet’s case has created space for further democratization.