Book Review: The Social Outburst and Political Representation in Chile 2021, edited by Navarrete and Tricot (2021) and published in Springer Nature

Abstract

“Chile is a true oasis in a convulsed Latin America”, said the President
Piñera on October 9, 2019. Nine days later in Chile there was a social outburst,
becoming one of the most difficult episodes in its post-dictatorship political history.
What were the reasons behind the social outbreak that, at least, part of the political elite
didn't you "see it coming"? This is the core question that the book The Social Outburst and Political
Representation in Chile seeks to respond by shedding light on different perspectives and theories that
can be synthesized in a central argument: The political parties were disconnected
of social movements and social organizations (Tricot and Parra chapters),
exhausting or at least weakening—very much like Sartori's responsible party model
(1976)—the political representation that these institutions should fulfill (chapters of
Navarrete and Herrera).
In this way, the book edited by Navarrete and Tricot proposes looking through a magnifying glass
the role of political parties, movements and social organizations in the outbreak
Chilean social security of 2019. In the first part, Navarrete (2021) and Herrera (2021) offer a
historical view of the Chilean party system, and —mainly the second author—
invites us to reflect on the low party identification shown by the population,
embodied in the CEP survey, and how, despite this, those who vote still continue to choose,
the vast majority, traditional political parties. In a second part, Parra (2021) and
Tricot (2021) show evidence that points towards the autonomization of the protest with
with respect to the traditional Chilean political parties. Finally, the last part of
The book offers different case studies in which the central argument of the
book, showing examples such as the indigenous movement in Chile (Figueroa, 2021),
student movement (Sanhueza, 2021), feminist movements (Vergara-Saavedra
and Muñoz-Rojas, 2021), movements on water (del Campo and Sánchez, 2021), and
movements for constitutional change (Escudero and Olivares, 2021).