La irrupción de la Alianza del Pacífico ¿Cambio en la agenda de la política exterior chilena?

Abstract

This paper takes a look at the foreign policy agenda of Chile in the context of the government action plan of candidates in 2009 and 2013. In broad terms, the agenda of this sector has been characterized by a high level of stability. However, with the right coming to power in 2010, certain issues in the agenda took precedence over others. It was in this context that Chile entered the Pacific Alliance. Until then, the change from one administration to another had not affected the balance between the core components of foreign policy. All in all, Chile’s involvement in this integration initiative was not a part of the government action plan of the right or the center-left. That is to say, it was not an alternative promoted by a public political community, as would follow from J. Kingdon’s agenda-setting theory (1995). The profile of the Pacific Alliance and the reaction caused by the country’s involvement with it in the political arena give credibility to the hypothesis that the change in the ruling faction generated a “polical window” for the country to join this initiative. All in all, as we conclude, Michelle Bachelet’s government action plan in 2013 was not aligned with Latin Americanist currents, but rather aimed at repositioning the axes of the foreign policy agenda that was in place before the Piñera administration.