The notion of a "stalemate society" used here to describe contemporary Chilean democracy is meant to suggest a particular political system where the likelihood of significant change resulting through elections and bargaining has been reduced to a minimum. Given restrictive political provisions imposed by the Pinochet military regime upon the new democracy such as the constitutionally-sanctioned appointed Institutional Senators and the "binomial" election law which dramatically over-represents the largest minority group one can argue that political power was meant to be almost equally divided between those center and center-left forces grouped in the Concertación coalition and those opposing them on the political right, in seeming disregard of what the voters wanted. What is raised as the central question for examination in this essay relates to the likely effects such entrenched political immobilism may have had on Chileans as they became aware that the political forces representing a popular majority had only a limited ability to achieve the changes sought. The type of effect suggested here focuses on existing political apathy and alienation.
democratization; political apathy; political immobilism; Chile
