Jaime Guzmán, Gremialismo, and the Ideological Origins of the 1980 Constitution

Abstract

This article seeks to understand the ideological origins of the 1980 Constitution, examining the role that Jaime Guzmán and his movement, gremialismo, played in defining the central concepts that characterized Chile’s new authoritarian order. It argues that both the definition of a new “protected democracy” and the establishment of a “Subsidiary State” integrated the conceptual proposal that Guzmanian gremialismo had formulated ever since its foundation in 1967 and until the military coup d’état in 1973. Divided into four sections, the article first explores the ideological definitions of this early phase of gremialismo. Next, it reviews Guzmán’s position on whether the Chilean dictatorship should follow a transformational vocation, and delves into the gremialistas’ concepts of democracy and the State. Understanding gremialismo in its own terms allows us to rethink both the democratic—or anti-democratic— character of Guzmán’s political project, as well as the relationship between the idea of “Subsidiary State” and neoliberalism.