Chilean exiles

I had mentioned taking a look at academic papers—my second choice also happens to be on Chile (but no, I won’t always focus on Chile). Unfortunately, for journal articles I am not sure how to get around the problem of linking to the full text. It might just be impossible unless the authors have posted a version, which does not seem to be the case here.

Chilean Political Exile
Thomas C. Wright & Rody Oñate Zúñiga
Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 34, No. 4, 31-49 (2007)

Abstract: Forced exile was important to Chilean politics both during the military regime and after the dictatorship's end in 1990. Exile was central to Pinochet's strategy for eliminating the left in Chile and consolidating and retaining absolute political power. At the same time, exile kept the opposition alive when the left was decimated in Chile, as exiles reconstituted their parties abroad and fought the dictatorship from the "external front." Exiles' return in the mid-1980s contributed to the success of the opposition effort to defeat Pinochet in the 1988 plebiscite. Finally, the exile experience was central to the reconfiguration of Chilean politics, particularly the "renovation" of the Socialists, which led to the breakup of the long-standing Socialist-Communist alliance and the formation of the Socialist—Christian Democrat alliance, the core of the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia, which has elected presidents and majorities in the Chamber of Deputies in each election since 1989.

I was struck by this article because I think the issue of exile is understudied (it is part of a special issue on the topic). The authors’ analysis—especially with regard to the “renovation” of Socialists--goes along with what I’ve heard over the years as I’ve interviewed Chilean politicians. Many Socialists fled or were forced out, then went to live in places like East Germany. That experience then convinced them that such a system was not really what they wanted. An important addition to this fact is that the experience—much more so than for the Christian Democrats—prompted Socialists to seek better ties with the military after 1990.

One issue the article does not mention is the current debate over whether to allow Chileans abroad to vote in presidential elections. There is a perception (which may or may not be accurate) that Chileans abroad are more likely to be exiles or family members of exiles, so they would be more likely to vote for the left. As a result, the right does not want the voting law to change.

It would be interesting to generate some hypotheses—to what degree can we generalize about the political effects of exile? Empirically, it would difficult because I’m not sure any numbers are available, since no one “registers” as an exile.