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1 [1] (May 8, 2018)

handle is hein.crs/govzfi0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Cogesoa Reeac Servic 0 May 8, 2018 Chile: An Overview Chile, a nation of 18.4 million people, is located along the Pacific coast of South America. Chile traditionally has been one of the United States' strongest partners in Latin America due to the countries' common commitments to democracy, human rights, and free trade. Chile also has worked with the United States to promote peace and stability in the Western Hemisphere, as the country's transition to a higher level of economic development has enabled it to take on additional regional responsibilities. Political and Economic Situation Chile has a long democratic tradition but experienced 17 years of authoritarian rule after a 1973 military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet deposed the democratically elected Socialist government of President Salvador Allende (1970-1973). More than 3,200 people were killed or disappeared, and some 38,000 people were imprisoned and/or tortured during the Pinochet dictatorship. Chile ultimately restored democracy in 1990. The center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy (CPD) governed Chile from 1990 to 2010. Its ability to implement policy changes was constrained, however, by provisions of the Pinochet-era constitution and the specter of another democratic breakdown. As a result, CPD leaders pursued consensus-based reforms that largely maintained the market-oriented economic framework inherited from Pinochet while gradually strengthening Chile's social safety net. The CPD's cautious approach enabled Chile to consolidate democratic governance and produced considerable improvements in living standards. According to International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Chilean government data, the economy grew by an average of 5.2% per year between 1990 and 2010 and the country's poverty rate fell from 39% to 25% during the same time period. Nevertheless, many Chileans have been dissatisfied with the limits of the post-Pinochet policy consensus. They argue that Chile's economic growth has disproportionately benefited the country's wealthiest families and that most Chileans still lack economic security and access to quality public services. Over the past decade, this dissatisfaction has manifested itself through repeated electoral swings and mass mobilizations. Chileans elected President SebastiAn Pifiera in 2009, leading to the country's first alternation of power since the return to democracy. Pifiera's center-right administration generally adhered to the same policy mix that had been favored by the CPD, however, and Pifiera struggled with protests and low approval ratings throughout his 2010-2014 term. After four years in opposition, the former CPD rebranded itself as the New Majority, incorporated the Communist Party and social movement leaders into the coalition, and adopted a platform of ambitious structural reforms intended to reduce inequality. President Michelle Bachelet, who had previously served as president from 2006 to 2010, won a second, nonconsecutive term, and the coalition won majorities in both houses of the Chilean Congress. Between 2014 and March 2018, Bachelet and her congressional allies enacted numerous policy changes, including a revenue-raising fiscal reform, a series of education reforms, and a new proportional representation electoral system. Figure I.Chile at a Glance Sources: CRS Graphics, Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas de Chile; Pew Research Center; and the International Monetary Fund. Despite acting on many of their campaign promises, Bachelet and her coalition enjoyed little popular support. While leftist sectors of the New Majority had hoped for more radical policy changes, other Chileans expressed concerns about the manner in which the reforms had been drafted and implemented. Bachelet lost additional popular support as a result of a corruption scandal that implicated her son and her perceived mismanagement of the economy. Chile's economic growth slowed from 4.1% in 2013 to 1.5% in 2017, according to the IMF. Economists have attributed the deceleration to a drop in the international price of copper, which accounts for about half of the country's exports, and a decline in business confidence stemming from the New Majority's reform agenda. In December 2017, former President SebastiAn Pifiera (2010-2014) of the center-right Let's Go Chile coalition was elected to a second, nonconsecutive term. He defeated Senator Alejandro Guillier of the ruling New Majority coalition in a second-round runoff election by a margin of 54.6% to 45.4%. Pifiera campaigned on the economic record of his first term, when the Chilean economy expanded by an average of 5.3% per year, and appears to have won over centrist voters with his argument that the country needs stronger economic growth to address the concerns of the middle class. Pifiera also benefited from the fragmentation of the New Majority; the centrist Christian Democrats split from the coalition to run its own slate of

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