A política de reinserção internacional chilena nos governos de Patricio Aylwin, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle e Ricardo Lagos: 1990-2006

Abstract

The authoritarian regime of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) isolated Chile internationally and which brought numerous changes in the way Chilean foreign relations were conducted. After the end of the authoritarian regime of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) and the return of democracy to Chile, the presidents of the Concertacion de Partidos por la Democracia committed to reinserting Chile internationally and retaking democracy. The present work aims to analyze how Patricio Aylwin (1990-1994), Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (1994-2000) and Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006) led Chilean foreign policy towards international reintegration. Still, the objective is to analyze whether during the changes of government there was a change in foreign policy, since each president lived different moments of the same process. In order to answer the research question, a case study is used, anchored in the qualitative methodology, investigating primary sources, such as international agreements signed by Chile and a database about the dimensions of foreign policy in each government, and making a bibliographical review focused on topics of analysis of foreign policy and Chilean foreign policy. To analyze the existence of foreign policy changes, an empirical analysis is made on the actors responsible for formulating and implementing foreign policy in Chile, as well as analyzing the dimensions of foreign policy based on ideological or pragmatic aspects, geopolitical orientation, economic insertion international market and positioning in relation to the United States. It's possible to highlight that the Concertación presidents were able to reinsert Chile internationally through a model based on the principles of liberal democracy, an international economy promotion by means of open regionalism, regional controversies resolution, multilateralism retake, using the neoliberal economic model. The most emphatic change seen in the Chilean foreign policy happened when Aylwin takes on the presidential office and instituted bases for the Chilean international reinsertion, during the next governments we see only some punctual adjusts in the form of conduction of the Chilean foreign policy.