ironment and in its political environment. Over the course of the twentieth century, the Chilean economic orientation has been open and closed at various times. Each approach produced satisfactory results at one time or another and each approach led to economic instability on other occasions. Similarly, the political environment in Chile moved from stability to instability and back several times over the past century (Central Intelligence Agency, 2005).
In a multiparty state such as Chile (the country has 23 political parties), it is all but axiomatic that domestic political coalitions must develop to create a stable government. That Chile has experienced stable governments over several periods, some quite long, over the past one hundred years, attests to the fact that such coalitions have developed and have been effective at time (Duquette, 1998).
A majority of the people in Chile enjoys a stable and prosperous economy. A minority of the people, however, suffers through severe privations, although international supporters of the Chilean economic program make little mention of this fact. Simultaneously, in the post-Pinochet era, Chile has a stable government (Duquette, 1998). Comparisons made in this context tend relate the present state of the economy and government in Chile to the conditions that existed during the 1970-1973 period when socialist Salvadore Allende was president of Chile. Considering that neither the Chilean political right nor the United States government would tolerate a socialist government in Chile and actively conspired to defeat any social and political initiative attempted by the Allende Government, it is not surprising that conditions in the contemporary period compare favorably to those prevailing from 1970 through 1973. An
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