Against the presidentialization of public administration. The opposition’s stance on administrative reform efforts in Chile, 1886-1889

Abstract

This paper aims to study the political debate with regard to a number of reformsof the Chilean public administration promoted by Chilean President José ManuelBalmaceda between 1886 and 1889. Based on a review of both Congressional recordsand news articles of the mentioned period, the paper analyzes the political discourse ofthe opposition with reference to the type of institutional relationship that the Presidentof the Republic should have with the public administration. The article concludes that,due to the rejection of the President’s ability to direct the administrative apparatus anduse it as a political resource to control society as a whole, the opposition promoted analternative vision in order to constrain the state’s coercive capacity.