Chile: the Regionalistic Vocation of the Military Government

Abstract

The article analyzes the characteristics of the Chilean process of regionalization in order to highlight some elements that have not been mentioned before. Reflections about public policies for regional development before 1973 and the agreement of the military government with regard to the regional issue, are examined from a perspective that focuses on aspects of the process that are usually not recognized. The article discusses the regionalization carried out by CONARA (National Comission of Regionalization) and shows the main instruments used in the context of regional development for that period. Contradictions and regional conflicts (some of them still active) are examined along with an analyzes of the dominant regional policy during the eighties. The latter was a legacy not questioned in the transition from the autoritarian regime to the democratic one. The article examines the nature of this regionalist legacy and mentions some of the most important challenges that the country needs to face in order to have a more inclusive, democratic and egalitarian development. This is part and parcel of the need for a regional development that is well-directed and framed within the context of a market economy, open and decentralized, where the main actor is the civil society.