Thinkers and political figures
Portrait: Government of Chile, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Chile
Augusto Pinochet
- Country
- Chile
- Era
- 1915–2006
- Tradition
- Authoritarian neoliberalism
General who overthrew Allende and ruled Chile for seventeen years, imposing the most thoroughgoing free-market programme attempted anywhere while running a system of torture and disappearance.
01
Documented positions
Documented positions come from the sources listed. Similarity is this project’s inference from those positions, and is a much weaker claim.
- Seized power in the coup of September 1973 and dissolved congress, banning political parties and unions
- Implemented a comprehensive free-market programme designed by economists trained at Chicago: privatisation, deregulation and trade opening
- Privatised the pension system into individual capital accounts, the first country to do so
- Privatised much of health care and education and reduced public spending sharply
- Imposed the 1980 constitution entrenching military prerogatives, which outlasted his rule by decades
- Held a plebiscite in 1988 on continuing in office, lost it, and left power in 1990
- Was arrested in London in 1998 on a Spanish warrant for torture, establishing a precedent in international law
02
Where it sits on each dimension
Wealth and inequality
94
RedistributionMarket outcomes
Evidence: Well documented
The state in the economy
92
Active stateLimited state
Evidence: Well documented
Personal liberty
2
Collective orderIndividual freedom
Evidence: Well documented
Tradition and change
8
ContinuityReform
Evidence: Well documented
Nation and the world
88
InternationalistNationalist
Evidence: Well documented
Religion and the state
76
Secular stateReligion in public life
Evidence: Documented
Power and its limits
2
Concentrated authorityChecks and pluralism
Evidence: Well documented
Environment and growth
15
Production firstProtection first
Evidence: Documented
Crime and punishment
4
PunishmentRehabilitation
Evidence: Well documented
Sources
- Government of Chile, Report of the National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation (Rettig Report) · 1991
- Juan Gabriel Valdés, Pinochet’s Economists: The Chicago School in Chile · Cambridge University Press · 1995
Last verified: