ABSTRACT
Chile's long democratic tradition has preserved institutional features and leadership styles that have defined the presidency as an institution, and influenced the leadership style of presidents. Chile's long tradition of presidentialism was used by its two 20th century dictators, both of whom presented themselves as presidents and held non-competitive elections to legitimate their power. Compared with the United States, where the presidency was strengthened after Franklin D. Roosevelt, Chile's executive institution is small. Intra-government coordination is also carried out by the ministry of the treasury, which has held enormous power since 1990. Both presidents had been active in politics in the democratic period before the military coup, and neither became as radicalized as many of their centrist and left-wing counterparts during the same period. Their trajectories were nonetheless quite different. Like the vast majority of politicians of the pre-1973 generation, Aylwin was a lawyer by profession.
