ABSTRACT
Can geographers contribute successfully, meaningfully and effectively to the formation of public policy?
General Pinochet is a geographer by training, and by all accounts he is successfully putting geography into public policy. As President of the military Junta that overthrew the elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile on 11 September 1973, General Pinochet does not approve of 'subversive' academic disciplines such as sociology, politics and even philosophy. He has asked that 'lessons in patriotism' be taught in all Chilean schools and universities and he is known to look with great favor upon the teaching of geography - such a subject is, he says, ideally suited to instruct the Chilean people in the virtues of patriotism and to convey to the people a sense of their true historic destiny. Since the military have taken full command of the universities and frequently supervise instruction in the schools, it appears that geography will become a very significant discipline in the Chilean educational system.
