Regional collective action in Chile, 2011-2013: From environmental protest to regionalist autonomy

Abstract

In Chile, the last decade has led to an intensification of social conflict, evidenced by an increase in collective action. In this scenario, since 2011 various regional and local issues can be counted among those with a strongest presence in political life and the media, a process evidenced in collective actions. However, although national social sciences have described the escalation in conflicts and reported the existence of a new cycle of State-society relations, there is little research on the characteristics of each of the phenomena taking place along this line. The following article seeks to outline the main regional collective action developed since 2011, with the working hypothesis that within a national framework of regional social conflicts, different phenomena coexist that do not necessarily point to social transformation and the establishment of a new cycle of State-society relations. It is argued that, notwithstanding a politicization of local movements based on plural demands, this process is leading to an anti-centralist and grand narrative in favor of a transformation towards a greater political and financial autonomy of the regions.