ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the attempt to solve the social and political upheaval generated by the October 2019 ‘social uprising’ in Chile by initiating a constituent process to change Pinochet’s 1980 Constitution. For many years, surveys consistently showed that the idea of changing the Constitution was not among the main citizens’ concerns. Surprisingly, in the October 2020 plebiscite, about 80 per cent of the electorate supported the idea of replacing the Constitution via an elected Convention formed by citizens. What explains that? This chapter proposes a three-fold explanation based on the following factors: the progressive ‘constitutionalisation’ of the citizens’ demands, the impetus given to this issue by part of the scholarly and intellectual community and the political system’s own decisions that opened opportunities for a constitutional debate.
