ABSTRACT
During the 1990s, Chile was a showcase of economic reform, with a wellfunctioning but “low-intensity” democracy that curbed social mobilization and kept redistributive issues off the political agenda (Mainwaring and Torcal 1998; Posner 1999). Great hopes were pinned, however, on the potential of local governments for channeling the participation of the organized urban poor and for addressing their demands. Since the early 1980s, decentralization had endowed the municipalities1 with fresh resources, enhanced authority, and the administration of key social services such as primary health and education.
