Chile: Una prosperidad no democrática

Abstract

It is argued that in the Latin American case in general, and in the Chilean case in particular, growth in prosperity does not imply an equivalent secularization like the one experimented by the first world in economical growth. There is tension between Modernness and Traditionalism, between progress and costumes. This generates acceptance of certain benefits of modernness, but rationality is postponed, thus emerging substitutes of it, like technocracy. All which have been mentioned, leads us in Chile to a limited democracy. In this way, the growth of income gives personal benefits to each without any equivalent collective benefit. This individual -and in a sense, not democratic- prosperity consolidates distrust. On the other hand, the process of change of values has been slow, measured by the speed of the last 16 years. At this speed, Chile will take 30 or 40 years to reach the average of values in most prosperous European societies. It is interesting, in that context, that the values associated to free market are decreasing, regardless of the levels of growth shown in the last years. This occurs because in a society where prosperity is not democratic, the access to market is limited for many. Therefore, the notion of “non democratic prosperity” is the best way to define the point of development in which Chile is in 2007.