Heine Publishes Article on New Chilean Constitution
Ambassador Jorge Heine, Research Professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published an article in The Wire discussing Chile’s constitution and the process through which the country will draft a new one.
In the article, titled “Chile Is at a Turning Point as Majority Favours New Constitution,” explains how the current Chilean constitution tends to favor private property and that this new constitution will be the first in the country’s history to be the product of a democratically elected body. While there are arguments both for and against the current constitution, Heine argues that the so-called export-driven “Chilean model” of the past 30 years has not reduced much of the inequalities throughout the country. The democratically appointed constitutional assembly has a chance to rectify the mistakes of the past.
An excerpt:
Vast numbers of people have left poverty behind, and many workers have joined the middle class, but their precarious living conditions make them feel just one setback away from reverting to their previous status. The old proletariat has been replaced by a new “precariat”. A new generation has new, higher expectations.
Chile is at a turning point. The opportunity to come up with a new constitution and with a different social contract, one based on solidarity rather than on subsidiarity, beckons.
The full article can be read on The Wire’s website.
Ambassador Jorge Heine is a Research Professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He has served as ambassador of Chile to China (2014-2017), to India (2003-2007) and to South Africa (1994-1999), and as a Cabinet Minister in the Chilean Government. Read more on him here.