On the threshold of a developed country

By Marifeli Pérez-Stable
The Miami Herald, June 22, 2006

Michelle Bachelet crossed the 100-day mark as Chile's president last week. I'd say the honeymoon is over, except she never had one. The conservative opposition -- understandably frustrated after losing four straight elections -- confronted her from Day 1. On May 21, when she delivered her first message to Congress, student demonstrators had just taken to the streets and would shortly call the national strike that kept some 600,000 students out of the classroom.

Bachelet initially fumbled the crisis by not becoming directly involved. Her education minister didn't, either, and instead sent surrogates to negotiate with the students. Excessive police actions forced the president to fire the head of special forces. Free bus passes, no entrance-exam fees, shorter school days and a review of the tiered educational system that renders public education fourth-class topped student demands. Though still strong at 56 percent, the president's popularity tumbled 11 points.

Urgent challenges ahead

At stake in the Bachelet presidency is a lot more than her gender. Chile is approaching the threshold of a developed country. Making democracy more responsive, inequality less pronounced and the economy more productive are urgent challenges. As a candidate, Bachelet promised a government of citizens and greater social mobility. The students tested her on both counts.

Market reforms and export earnings have spurred Chile's impressive economic performance. Without growth, significant poverty reduction and per-capita income gains would have been impossible. Yet, Chilean productivity lags considerably when compared to that of countries at similar levels of development like the Czech Republic and Hungary. Without rising rates, social mobility will remain an unkept promise. On international tests, only the top 25 percent of Chilean students perform like the average of their counterparts in Russia, Latvia and Malaysia.

More than 80 percent of the public supported the students, a reflection of the widespread dissatisfaction with the state of public education and the growing awareness that it isn't just a matter of justice. Without more-uniform educational quality, Chile will not pass the threshold of development, and all Chileans will be the lesser for it.

Education overhaul a must

Bachelet has proposed tax breaks to small and medium enterprises to accelerate job creation. By 2010, she aims to double research-and-development funds to 1 percent of the gross domestic product. All the more reason why a profound education overhaul is in order.

Only it was the students that thrust the issue on the national agenda. Bachelet didn't mention it in her May 21 address. In 2005, the Education Ministry under President Ricardo Lagos opened a dialogue with high school students, which yielded the demands that were recently pressed in the streets. Neither Lagos in six years nor Bachelet in her first 100 days really moved the education agenda.

Conservative critics charge that Bachelet's actions to settle the crisis -- an additional $200 million in emergency funding for public schools -- will leave her government vulnerable to other groups seeking redress through protests. While a reasonable concern, the fact is that sometimes democracies, especially on central matters that are not being tended properly in the normal course of politics, have to be prodded by unconventional, nonviolent means. Would the U.S. Congress have enacted the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965) without the Civil Rights Movement?

Women in government

A government of citizens must have its ear close to the ground, and Bachelet's was caught off guard. In part, its initial fumbling was due to relative inexperience. The president is making history, yes, as Chile's first woman president but also -- and just as important -- for bringing in fresh blood into the higher echelons of government. Women make up 50 percent of the cabinet, and the four parties in the center-left coalition are also duly represented but, mostly, not by the usual suspects. They are capable women and men but, admittedly, not as experienced as their predecessors. Bachelet is executing a turnover in the ruling coalition that, after 16 years in power, the Concertación surely needs.

Life and politics are all about balance. Bachelet belatedly found hers with the students. May she and her government find the steady pulse that quickens Chile's passage to the ranks of developed countries.