Policy continuity in Pinochet’s Chile survived ministerial turnover through direct loyalty to Pinochet

Evidence

Navy and army officers rather than air force leaders were assigned leading economic policy positions, and both neoliberal and gremialist academics were called into key advisory positions (see Cañas Kirby 1997, 61f.). The more technical aspects of the ministry’s tasks were designed and carried out by civilian undersecretaries. Pinochet himself made such staffing decisions, and thus the leading civilian positions involved a dual allegiance: to the minister in charge (typically a military man) and directly to Pinochet. This configuration is important in understanding the long-term trajectory of the reform policies instituted under the military regime: Although there were frequent changes at the minister level, the reform team worked continuously in loyalty to Pinochet. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1571

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to how neoliberal policy teams achieve institutional persistence despite political instability — parallels ODEPLAN’s think-tank role and later chapters on technocratic insulation. — connects to: Chilean governments preserved Pinochet’s austerity model after the dictatorship fell — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1739; Pacted transitions preserve predecessor regimes’ legal and economic frameworks — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1607; Transitional pacts preserved technocratic economic continuity across regime change — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 1643 (+4 more)
• DEFINE: Clarifies ‘gremialista’ (gremialism-related, Guzmán’s Catholic corporatist movement) as a distinct intellectual current within the Chilean reform team.

Broader Connections

• Transitional pacts preserved technocratic economic continuity across regime change #expands (0.82) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1643
• Pacted transitions preserve predecessor regimes’ legal and economic frameworks #expands (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1607
• Chicago economists trained under a US aid program shaped Pinochet’s reforms #corroborates (0.80) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 516
• The Chicago–Chile economics project produced over a dozen top government economic officials #corroborates (0.75) — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 316