La democracia dictatorial pinochetista: regionalización y municipios

espanolEste articulo analizara el proceso de regionalizacion impulsado por la dictadura del general Augusto Pinochet, a fines de los anos setenta. Nuestra hipotesis es que en el caso chileno la modernizacion economica era condicion para la despolitizacion social, la redefinicion de la politica y la construccion de una nueva “democracia”. La regionalizacion permitia escalonar la participacion, centralizando las decisiones importantes en el nivel nacional y regional, relegando la incorporacion ciudadana al ultimo nivel, el escalon comunal. La “democracia” pinochetista seria comunal. EnglishThis article explores the regionalization process promoted by General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship towards the end of the ‘70s. According to our hypothesis, economic modernization was a precondition for Chile’s social depoliticization, the redefinition of politics, and the making of a new “democracy”. Regionalization allowed a staggered participation, where the most important decisions were centralized at a national or regional level, while grassroots citizen activity remained relegated to the lowest rung, the local level. Pinochet’s “democracy” would be of a municipal nature.