ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the features of the political system in order to discuss perspectives on regime change—the problematique of the transition from dictatorship to political democracy—as well as perspectives on reconstructing the political system that go beyond the processes involved in the regimes eventual end and the transition. The military coup in 1973 afforded the opportunity for not only dismantling the existing political system but founding a new political system under a military regime. The political system to which the military regime aspires is expressed with dazzling clarity in the Constitution of 1980, which Pinochet imposed by means of a plebiscite. The opposition’s strategy consists of suitably combining the processes, which requires presenting a single consensual proposal or institutional solution for a military exit that allows for negotiation with the armed forces. The renewal of political leadership implies, in one sense, expanding spheres of participation and representation in society in order to increase opportunities for access to leadership and hence its diversification.
