Chile, del orden natural al autoritarismo republicano

Abstract

We argue that environmental impacts of Chile's natural resources got reflected in an authoritarian political system that privileged order over liberty, justifying a political reality characterized through the search of "natural orders", based on the general social conditions in place at the beginning of the 19th century. Therefore, Chile was portrayed as the "happy copy of heaven", and, in political realm, framed by discourses such as "the asylum against oppression"; even though that meant putting in power an authoritarian regime. Unlike situations in other Latin American country, stability and order was maintained, serving as the basis to promise a "magnificent future".