Cooperation in Chile
IDCR Director Professor Todd Landman met with the Former President of Chile, Patricio Aylwin to discuss the work of the IDCR and the importance of Chile in the larger story of democracy in the world.
President Aylwin was the first democratically elected President of Chile after the Pinochet Dictatorship, which lasted from 1973 to 1989. He was elected as a candidate from the broad coalition of opposition parties entitled Concertación.
In the meeting held at the President’s home in Santiago, a decision was taken to forge a a new relationship and formal cooperation between the IDCR and the President’s foundation Corporación Justicia y Democracia. The foundation is keen to share its archives on the last four governments and to provide an example of best practice to the world in forging democracy after a period of prolonged authoritarian rule. The IDCR is keen to nurture this new relationship, as the University of Essex has over 200 alumni from Chile and has had a large number of scholars and staff that came to the campus in the 1970s and 1980s as exiles during the dictatorship. In 2009, the University of Essex awarded an honorary degree to Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile from 2005 to 2009, also from Concertación.
