Fifty Years After

Chile experienced an unprecedented crisis in the early 1970s and some civilian groups started supporting a “military solution” which occurred on September 11, 1973. Parallels between 1970s Chile and 2020s United States can be drawn in terms of democratic tradition, polarization, private armed groups, and middle-class support of democracy. While the South American country experienced a democratic breakdown in South America, the process is ongoing in the North. This article discusses analogies between both countries and explains which lessons can be learned to protect the U.S. democracy.