Popular Mobilization and the Military Regime in Chile: the Complexities of the Invisible Transition

This paper attempts an analysis of the popular mobilizations in Chile from the perspective of the problem of transition from a military regime to democracy. It begins with some general reflections on the role of social mobilizations under military regimes, distinguishing among various regime phases and types of mobilizations, and goes on to outline changing state/societal relations in Chile in the pre-1973 period to provide the historical context for an extended discussion of popular protest in Chile under the military regime. In this next section the author describes the mobilizations of the 1973-1983 decade and the cycle of protests and strikes after 1983, and gives an analysis of the principal sectors involved. The concluding section presents some interpretative hypotheses about the paradoxical role of mobilizations: their fundamental importance in reconstituting civil society and transforming dictatorial regimes, and their limits with respect to bringing about an end to dictatorship and the restoration of full democracy.