Augusto Pinochet, Chile s former dictator, ruled for 16 years in the name of authoritarian democracy, and then attempted to leave behind what he called a protected democracy. Today s would be strongmen speak of popular or Bolivarian democracy.

Beyond the economy, there are, of course, many areas of disagreement. The Concertación has dealt prudently with the political legacies of the dictatorship, gradually rescinding the self serving rules that Pinochet created to protect himself, the military, and the right, and making some progress in prosecuting human rights violators.

The most controversial change that Piñera is likely to seek is the partial privatization of CODELCO, the huge and highly profitable state owned copper company. But, even if this politically risky move succeeded, he would just be deepening the economic model started by Pinochet and followed by the Concertación .

But many are not happy the far left not very strong these days but with an important political tradition wants more and faster progress on prosecutions, while the recalcitrant right insists on treating Pinochet (who died in 2006) as a national hero. Moral, ethnic, and environmental issues follow similar ideological lines.

After all, as time passed, the ostensibly pragmatic clientelism of the Cold War proved far from ideal. Indeed, in many cases the Shah of Iran, Cambodia s Lon Nol, Chile s Augusto Pinochet, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo s Mobutu Sese Seko, to name a few it led to long term insecurity and disorder.

In terms of Chile s major policies, however, continuity is almost certain to prevail, even if Enríquez Ominami wins. The center left coalition that defeated Pinochet (in a 1988 plebiscite and his presidential candidate in the 1989 election) has been wise enough to keep, and in some cases deepen, the sound free market policies inherited from the military government.

Though China s policies have brought about Pinochet style economic growth, if on the scale of a country that is almost a continent unto itself, they have also ensured that there is in no freedom for anyone, including the Han majority. This, in turn, means that, while Kazakhstan and Ukraine are independent, Tibet and Xinjiang alternate between phases of violent agitation and bloody repression.

(d) The judgement of 24 March 1999 of the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords in the case of R. v. Bartle and the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, ex parte Pinochet holding that the State party's courts have jurisdiction over acts of torture committed abroad and that a former Head of State does not have immunity for such crimes

Chile s excellent economic performance has been the result of the free market policies introduced during the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet but confirmed and strengthened by democratically elected governments over the 25 years since he left office. So, given the success and popularity of these policies, it is surprising that Chile s voters have elected a president and a parliament that many Chileans now fear could put this approach at risk.

Long before September 11 became a day of infamy in the United States, it acquired similar significance in Chile, where 40 years ago, on September 11, 1973, the armed forces, led by General Augusto Pinochet, overthrew the country s democratically elected government. More than any other event of our era, that violent coup was responsible for launching both the contemporary global movement for human rights and the American movement to promote human rights internationally.

Piñera benefited from his own critical stance towards the military government, and from an electoral campaign that emphasized the liberal much more than the conservative aspects of his coalition. Instead of vindicating Pinochet and appealing to traditional Catholic values, Piñera offered a centrist vision of change that included more rights for homosexuals and an emphasis on social issues (in a country that, even after 25 years of strong growth, remains very unequal).

General Augusto Pinochet kicked him and our family out of the country, and I spent my adolescence and early adulthood in exile, sharing hopes and fears with other expatriates from Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. None of us and no one on the Latin American left would have doubted for a moment that defending human rights was everyone s responsibility, and that the international community should come down hard on governments that tortured and killed their own people.