Chile transitioned back to democracy in 1990 after 17 years of authoritarian military rule led by General Augusto Pinochet. While Pinochet successfully implemented free market economic reforms, he failed to displace Chile's democratic political traditions and parties. Pinochet was forced to end his plans for lifelong rule after losing a 1988 plebiscite. Chile's transition to democracy faced challenges as it had to accept the authoritarian-created constitution, but over time civilian elites modified the institutions to establish a fully democratic system.

1. Government and Politics
WITH THE REESTABLISHMENT of democratic government in March 1990, Chile was once again thrust
into the international limelight. In the early 1970s, the long, narrow country on the west coast of
South America had drawn widespread attention by electing a Marxist president, Salvador Allende
Gossens (1970-73), who was intent on forging a new path to socialism. Following Allende's overthrow
on September 11, 1973, Chile under military rule became notorious for some of the worst excesses of
modern-day authoritarianism.
Headed by General of the Army Augusto Pinochet Ugarte (1973- 90), the dictatorship was widely
reviled for ending Chile's tradition of democratic politics and committing numerous violations of
human rights. Although isolated politically, Chile's military government earned international acclaim
for far-reaching economic and social reforms that transformed the country's state-oriented economy
into one of the most open economic systems in the developing world. The economic reforms of the
late 1970s and 1980s set the foundation for extraordinary investment and growth in the early 1990s.
Economic progress, combined with the return of democratic politics largely devoid of the
confrontation and polarization of the past, positioned Chile to enter the twentyfirst century with
increased prosperity in a climate of peace and freedom.
Chile's favorable situation developed because the military government's success at implementing an
economic revolution was not duplicated in the political arena. From the outset, Pinochet and his
colleagues had sought to displace the parties, politicians, and institutions of the past so that they
might create a nation of pliant and patriotic citizens, devoted to their private pursuits under the
tutelage of a strong and benevolent state with merely a façade of representative government.
However, the military commanders badly underestimated the strength of the nation's traditional
political parties and failed to understand the degree to which democratic practices and institutions
had become a fundamental part of Chile's national character. Indeed, Pinochet was forced to
abandon his plan for virtual life-long rule after a humiliating personal defeat in a 1988 plebiscite at
the hands of the very civilian leaders whom he had reviled and persecuted. Their resilience made
possible the transition to democracy in March 1990 and the success of Chile's first civilian
government after seventeen years of authoritarian rule.
Chile's transition back to democracy encountered serious challenges. Although opposition groups had
vehemently rejected the Pinochet government's constitution of 1980 as illegitimate and
undemocratic, they were forced to accept the political rules and playing field as defined by the
military government in order to challenge its very authority. To a greater degree than most other
transitions to democracy in Latin America, Chile's was accomplished within the framework of an
institutional order conceived by an authoritarian regime, one that continued to define the political
game long after the return to representative government. Pinochet was unable to destroy his
adversaries or project his own presidential leadership into the future, but he succeeded in imposing
an institutional legacy that Chile's civilian elites would have to modify substantially if Chile were to
become fully democratic.
Taken from http://countrystudies.us/chile/84.htm