1. The Enduring Presence of Religion in Chilean Ideological Positionings and Voter Options
- Author:
- Nicolás Somma, Timothy R. Scully, and J. Samuel Valenzuela
- Publication Date:
- 03-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Analysts of Chilean politics assert that the Pinochet dictatorship created a new political cleavage characterized as “authoritarianism versus democracy.” It fostered the formation of two party coalitions that took positions for and against Pinochet's continuation as head of state in the plebiscite that he lost in October 1988. As a result, they argue, while the religious and class cleavages had powerfully shaped voter options and the party system in the pre-dictatorship past, these fissures have lost their salience in the current context.
- Topic:
- Development, Politics, and Religion
- Political Geography:
- South America and Chile