The STG Talks, held weekly at the Florence School of Transnational Governance, serve as a space for discussion for the entire EUI community. Led by the Policy Leader Fellows, the Talks are a place for informal learning and exchange on global issues affecting different areas of policymaking.
In 1988, with a national plebiscite, Chileans ended Augusto Pinochet’s 17-year military dictatorship, paving the way for elections and a progressive process of democratic consolidation. During the 1990s, Chile became an economic success story, with high growth rates, low inflation, and poverty reduction through a model combining free-market policies and targeted social programs. In the 2000s, social activism and protests grew, with demands for greater state involvement in providing public services, reducing inequalities and enviromental protection.
In 2019, Chile experienced its largest social upheaval since the end of the dictatorship. Protests and a broader set of social movements demanding changes to address inequalities, healthcare, education, pensions, and a systemic political reform led to a democratic process to write a brand-new constitution (intended to replace one estiblished by Pinochet in 1980).
In a national plebiscite, nearly 80% of Chileans voted in favor of drafting a new constitution. A Constitutional Convention , with gender parity and indigenous representation, was elected in 2021 to do so. After a process abundant in public consultation and other forms of citizen participation, in 2022 the Convention proposed a draft constitution that included progressive articles on environmental rights, indigenous autonomy, and social welfare. In another national referendum, with a record-high turnover, it was rejected by nearly 62% of voters. After the rejection, a new constitutional process was initiated, with a more elite-driven Council drafting a second proposal for a new constitution. In a referendum held on December 2023, nearly 56% of voters rejected that proposal too.
The social unrest of 2019 also opened the door for democratic innovations. In 2021, with the political buy-in of the Chilean Senate and the Chilean Association of Municipalities, and the support of national universities, international organizations, TV stations, radios and newspapers; the Stanford University’s Center for Deliberative Democracy and Fundación Tribu implemented the first deliberative democracy process with a nationwide civic lottery ever done in Latin America, gathering 514 people representative of the whole population of the country with a margin of error below 5%, to address concrete policies on pensions and health which had been proposed by the political parties and think tanks from across the political spectrum during the previous ten years.
From 1988 to the present, Chilean democracy has undergone significant evolution, transitioning from military dictatorship to a democracy that seemed consolidated and now faces profound challenges—similar to those seen in democracies worldwide.
At the same time, throughout these years, technologies have evolved exponentially, changing dramatically the way we live and presenting a new landscape of opportunities, challenges and dilemmas for democracies.
What can we learn from the experience of Chile? Specifically, what can we learn from Chile's recent processes of democratic innovation to improve the design and implementation of processes of civic engagement like public consultations and citizens' assemblies in Europe? How are those insights relevant for public policy, regulation and institutional design? What is impact of technological change in this? Can we find here any key for the global crisis of democracy? What do we still need to learn?
Speakers:
This event will be held in-person only.