Atlas / Comparisons / Pinochet Regime vs Social Liberalism
Pinochet Regime and Social Liberalism
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. No axis places them within three points of each other. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, CU, AU, ID, CH.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Pinochet Regime | Rawlsian liberalism | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +09 | +01 | 8 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +08 | −06 | 14 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +10 | −06 | 16 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +07 | +02 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +05 | −07 | 12 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +04 | −07 | 11 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
Pinochet Regime · EC +09
Among the deepest market liberalisations attempted anywhere, executed under a military government.
- Documented act or statutePensions were transferred to private individual accounts in 1981.
- Documented act or statuteState enterprises, health and schooling were privatised or voucherised through the late 1970s and 1980s.
Rawlsian liberalism · EC +01
Coded +1: market economy with substantial redistribution.
- Programme textA Theory of Justice (1971) permits inequality only where it benefits the least advantaged.
Pinochet Regime · CU +08
Social order restored by decree alongside the economic liberalisation.
- Documented act or statuteThe 1980 constitution was drafted by an appointed commission and ratified under a state of siege with no electoral register.
- Documented act or statuteAbortion, legal in some circumstances since 1931, was banned outright in 1989.
Rawlsian liberalism · CU −06
Coded −6: equal basic liberties as lexically prior to everything else.
- Programme textThe first principle of justice takes priority over the distributive one in Rawls's ordering.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
Pinochet Regime
1973–1990 · Chile
Free-market restructuring imposed by a military junta after the violent overthrow of an elected government.
Social Liberalism
1971– · Global North
Equal basic liberties first, then fair equality of opportunity, then inequalities only where they benefit the worst off.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
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