The chaotic protests unfolding across Chile are a crisis that has been waiting to happen since the end of General Augusto Pinochet’s 17-year dictatorship in 1990.
The story may have surprised outsiders, who know only of the country’s reputation for economic success. But for Chileans, it was years in the making. It is a tale of rapid but unequal economic growth; of a state that has withdrawn from its regulatory and social policy roles; and of a political class that has been unwilling to transform the country’s economic and social model.
Chile’s experience is an object lesson in the dangers of ignoring inequality and the importance of building inclusive political institutions.