MAPUCHE PARTICIPATION AND INSTITUTIONAL POLITICS IN 2018

Abstract

This article describes and analyzes the most relevant events that, in the broader context of the conflict between the Mapuche people and the Chilean state, took place in the country’s institutional arena in 2018. To do so, the authors focus on the junctures, processes and struggle for power and influence in several institutions. The year 2018 saw many examples of tensions, efforts at resolution and long-standing conflicts between the state and the Mapuche people. In this article, we analyze these issues from a diachronic perspective, trying to identify if the events that took place in 2018 are part of new dynamics or, on the contrary, they represent continuity in the way the Mapuche have historically participated in Chile’s institutional politics. Seeing and analyzing things this way will allow us to put into perspective the different ways in which conventional political participation occurs, which constitutes our focus in this article. The article visualizes that the events that we have witnessed in 2018 are the expression of unresolved, long-standing conflicts that need urgent attention to avoid tragedies like the ones analyzed in this journal’s issue.