Modern Chile, 1970-1989: A Critical History

By Mark Falcoff

Few dispute that a major turning point in the history of present-day Chile commenced with the election in 1970 of a Marxist physician, Salvador Allende. What followed were three years that shook South America, if not the world. Land reform, factory expropriation, the politicization of a sector of the armed forces, curriculum reform in education, each in their turn led to a hardening of political fault lines, and created the basis for the overthrow of the Allende regime.This work, by one of the foremost analysts of modern Chile, features an interview with an earlier president of that beleaguered country, Eduardo Frei. In what is likely to be viewed as the most authoritative statement to date on U.S.Chile relationships during this stormy period, Falcoff debunks the myth of a CIA-inspired overthrow of the democratic forces, placing responsibility on Allende's failure to obtain or even seek a decisive electoral mandate, on a governing coalition internally inconsistent and frequently at war with its constituent elements, on an economic policy that polarized supporters and enemies, and ultimately on the need to turn to the military for the stability that its policy failures could not achieve.The final chapter, on the assumption to power and political changes rendered by the present ruler, General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, indicates that the problems of Chile are not attributable to any single ruler or party. Falcoff indicates that core problems in Chile, from capital formation to the search for diversification, were exemplified in cultural, moral, and spiritual values between the Frei and Allende epochs. The prolonged Pinochet regime, for Falcoff, has postponed settlement of the major issues raised by the democratic era: equality and growth, legality and legitimacy. The costs of democratic order remain for Chileans to confront and resolve.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887382576
• ISBN13: 9780887382574
• Release Date: February 1989
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent and serious contribution

With all due respect, Falcoff's Modern Chile and the cited Kornbluh contribution are simply not analogous. Stylistically, Kornbluh borders on the polemic, reflecting a peculiar intellectual point of departure (regrettably shared by others as well) in which Chile exists merely as a vehicle (or venue) for American imperialist overreach and CIA machination. Falcoff, to his enduring credit, offers well-researched scholarship on a rather contentious subject --Chile during the tumultuous Allende regime, and later during the much reviled (sometimes fairly, sometimes not) Pinochet era. Moreover, Kornbluh's contribution focuses on events following the 1973 coup. If one desires a more balanced perspective, one would be better served consulting "Hostile Intent." Falcoff, on the other hand, chronicles the entire period advertised and invests considerable effort recounting the Allende regime. Many aspects remain unchanged with the passage of time. For example, Allende's Marxist inclinations, which Falcoff discusses, have not been impeached by the subsequent disclosure of additional contemporaneous documentation. In short, for students interested in Chilean history, Falcoff's book satisfies sans the iconoclastic fervor with which the subject matter is most often approached.