The Battle of Ideas in Post-Ideological Times: Ideological Adaptations and Continuities in the New Chilean Center-Right

ABSTRACT

Introduction:

What are the positions of the Chilean government coalition elites on moral and contemporary issues? Is it possible to infer from such positions that the right has become more centrist? Is the coalition ruled by a unified doctrine?

Materials and Methods:

To answer these questions, we used data from an original and representative survey at the party level of the leaders of Chile Vamos, the current government coalition, investigating the elements of continuity and change within its ideological spectrum. The responses of the leaders of the UDI (303 cases), RN (213 cases) and Evópoli (104 cases), were gathered to a survey conducted between November 10, 2015 and October 31, 2016.

Results:

We find that some of these new issues generate change by dividing the coalition along party lines, what we call a party effect, in a context in which the specialized literature questions the relevance of party organizations as such. On the other hand, there is evidence of ideological continuities within the Chilean right traditions of thought regarding historical positions in the state-market axis. These political sensibilities are empirically grounded and they distribute homogeneously within the main parties of the coalition.

Discussion:

We argue that the government coalition must be understood from these tensions between change and continuity, between post-ideological features and the battle of ideas.

Keywords:
new centre-right; Chile Vamos; political sensibilities; party elites; political parties