The democratic left’s approach is shaped by a generational shift within the broader leftist movements, whose young progressives center democracy, social justice, and human rights over traditional left-wing solidarity.
While increased state participation in Chile’s lithium industry aims to maximize national benefits, the potential downsides must not be overlooked.
Realizing the need to make adjustments, Boric has shifted towards the center in his selection of ministers and trimmed his legislative priorities, but it increasingly looks like he has missed his moment.
With so many Chileans willing to limit rights to solve the country’s security problems, the main question for the future seems to be who will reap the benefits of the country’s malaise, Chile’s traditional right or a hard-right autocrat.
The faltering constitutional process indeed captures Chileans’ portrayal as ‘dissatisfied democrats’: they believe in democracy but dislike its results.
Chileans have never wanted a new country or a drastically different economic model. All along, they have held the same demands.
Chile’s experiment and constitutional rewrite is a global lesson in direct democracy for both good and bad.
