Michelle Bachelet: the Rise of the Supra-Madre from the Chilean Body
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MICHELLE BACHELET: THE RISE OF THE SUPRA-MADRE FROM THE CHILEAN BODY POLITIC by LINDA ELIZABETH MORAN A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Modern Languages College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham 25 June 2017 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT Although the number of female leaders worldwide has yet to achieve par with that of male leaders, a growing number of female heads of state and female candidacies for that position signal that transformations are underway. Among them is Chile’s current president, Michelle Bachelet. Her first election generated significant debate since she possessed none of the qualities considered essential for eligibility. Attempts to lend logic to the contradictions imposed by that event are still largely inconclusive. This study investigates a deeper root system in Chilean history for causal factors with trajectories that lead into the twenty-first century. Under consideration are ways in which women attain political power, their management of power, and the role of the body politic in both of those. The latter part of the study establishes correlations between recent developments in the Chilean political landscape of female leadership and similar developments across the globe. During Bachelet’s first election, media coined the term—the “Bachelet Phenomenon”—to reference her unprecedented and improbable attainment of the presidency. This research consults a diverse body of resources to offer one interpretation of that. The findings contribute new perspectives to the existing body of literature that can be expanded by future research. DEDICATION Support for this project came from many sources. The list is lengthy but it is appropriate that some contributors be named. With heartfelt gratitude, I dedicate it —to my soul mate and spouse, Larry Moran, who has been the wind beneath my wings throughout the journey. He remains unequaled as a sounding board, counselor, cheerleader, and financial manager. His sacrifice has been that precious, nonrenewable commodity—time. May the completion of this project serve as a meager recompense for the countless evenings, afternoons, and holidays spent alone. —to my parents, Lawrence and Corine Taylor, who graced me with the wings of a life-long learner. Without their gifts of passion for possibility and insatiable curiosity, the journey would have been delayed indefinitely. —to my children who inspired the flight. Their lives are testimonials that adventure is out there, always, at any age. —to my family, friends, and colleagues who provided checkpoints along the way. They kept it real. —to Dr. Nancy Membrez and Dr. Malgorzata Oleszkiewicz-Peralba of the University of Texas at San Antonio for the initial flight training. They set a course for a far horizon. —to Dr. Conrad James of the University of Birmingham, UK, for charting the journey and supplying the tools of navigation. 19 June 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION THE RISE OF THE SUPRA-MADRE FROM THE CHILEAN BODY POLITIC 1 0.1 Purpose of the Study 1 0.2 Antecedents of the Study 2 0.3 Additional Rationale: The Broader Scope 6 0.4 Structure of the Study: Hypotheses and Methodology 7 0.5 Summary of Chapters 11 CHAPTER ONE HISTORY AS AGENCY IN THE CHILEAN ELECTIONS OF 2005 AND 2013 16 1.1 A Longer Historical Point of View 17 1.2 The Veiled Agency of History 19 1.3 The Backdrop: Women, Politics, and Historical Legacies 20 1.4 The Mid-Nineteenth Century to the Turn of the Century 23 CHAPTER TWO THE POLITICS OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES 41 2.1 The Early Twentieth Century to the Coup d’état (1973) 41 2.2 The Politics of Activism: “What Does it Matter? They are Only Women!” 46 2.3 From 1973 to the Second Election of Bachelet (2013) 56 2.4 Historical Residue for a Holistic Interpretation 67 CHAPTER THREE THE IMAGINED LANDSCAPE OF FEMALE POLITICAL ASCENDENCY 75 3.1 The “Reordered” Established Order 77 3.2 A Chilean Leadership Paradigm for the Twenty-First Century 85 3.3 Politics as Usual: A Decline or Demise? 103 3.4 Chilean Politics: A New Script with a New Cast? 111 CHAPTER FOUR TRAVERSING THE LABYRINTH OF FEMALE POLITICAL LEADERSHIP 123 4.1 What Chileans Said and What Chileans Did 123 4.2 Internal Acculturation and Accommodation 128 4.3 The Female “Face” of Political Empowerment 138 CHAPTER FIVE A FEMALE POLITICAL PERFORMANCE IN TIERRA DE HOMBRES 171 5.1 Political Performance: Regional and Global Reviews 171 5.2 Political Performance: The Twenty-First Century “Woman Problem” 173 5.3 Political Performance: Reforms, Advances, and Setbacks 179 5.4 Political Performance: Personas and Leadership Styles 187 5.5 Political Performance and Power from Below: El gobierno ciudadano 190 5.6 Political Performance and Public Opinion: Friend or Foe? 193 5.7 Political Performance: Internal and External Conditions 195 5.8 Practicing Politics in Enigmatic Chile 213 5.9 A Feminist Performance in (Sometimes) Hostile Territory 217 CONCLUSION THE EXECUTIVE POWER OF A WOMAN: LESSONS FROM THE BODY POLITIC 226 C.1 Lessons From the Body Politic 226 C.2 Climate Change in Tierra de hombres 238 BIBLIOGRAPHY 248 INTRODUCTION THE RISE OF THE SUPRA-MADRE1 FROM THE CHILEAN BODY POLITIC The highest exercise of imagination is not to devise what has no existence, but rather to perceive what really exists, though unseen by the outward eye— not creation, but insight. —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 0.1 Purpose of the Study In the first decade of the twenty-first century, four women were elected to the highest position of political power in their respective Latin American governments. By 2016, one of the four had won a second term, two had completed their terms, one had been indicted for finance fraud, and one had been impeached. Both the positive and negative components of their legacies provide an observable dynamic of what is still a relatively exceptional event not only in Latin America but also in the world: governance by a female head of state. Farida Jalalzai’s statement, “No scholar has offered an in-depth analysis of the paths and actions of women presidents in Latin America” (Women 2), validates the relevance of research in this field. Although the span between the onset of my research (2013) and the present (2017) has seen an increase in scholarly production of interest to the topic, there are still gaps: “it has become clear that more links need to be made between the women leaders and the political contexts that they are operating in” (Waylen, Gendering 23). In contrast to 1 This term is discussed in chapter three. 1 Jalazai’s 2016 comparative study of female leaders across the region,2 this study narrows the focus to one female head of state set apart by both the highly publicized and less conspicuous contradictions embedded in her two elections. With the intent to decipher those contradictions and fill some of the lacunae in scholarship noted by Farida Jalalzai and Georgina Waylen, my research examines the dynamics of the relationship between one female executive—Michelle Bachelet—and the political context from which she emerged and in which she governs. 0.2 Antecedents of the Study Bachelet voiced awareness of the exceptional nature of her first election as she took occupation of La Moneda3 in 2006: “Quién hubiera pensado, hace veinte, diez o cinco años, que Chile elegiría como Presidente a una mujer?” (Martínez). A rhetorical analysis offers points of entry into the inferred dissonances. Who among the electorate—male, female, young, old, liberal, conservative—envisioned a Bachelet presidency? What converted the unimaginable into the conceivable for the electoral majority? What accommodations evolved over twenty years? Why is Chile a site of low probability for this occurrence? Why are “presidente” and “mujer” stated as semantically opposite? The answers engage an eclectic assemblage of disciplines: social transformation theory, gender and feminist studies, cultural anthropology, history, media and leadership studies, and political science. Across disciplines, 2 Women Presidents of Latin America: Beyond Family Ties? New York: Routledge, 2016. 3 La Moneda is the official residence of the President of Chile. 2 responses to the questions are equally diverse as political analysts, social scientists, and academicians have yet to achieve consensus. The presidential race of 2005 generated widespread skepticism about the election of a female head of state and scant rationale for the election of Michelle Bachelet. As leader of a predominantly Catholic nation, Bachelet is a professed agnostic. Chile, a nation rooted in traditional family values, was the “last country in the Western Hemisphere to legalize divorce” in 2004 (Rohter, Divorce). Bachelet, a divorced mother of three children, bore her third child out of wedlock and came to power without a spouse. The principal competing candidates in 2005, Sebastián Piñera and Joaquín Lavín, capitalized on their status as married men with large families. The conservative ideologies permeating the Chilean political context factored greatly in their campaigns, yet Bachelet, a Socialist, won the majority. Chilean candidacies are typically supported by broad scale party endorsements and emerge from the elite; Bachelet’s met neither of these criteria. In spite of Chile’s designation as a machista culture, Bachelet prevailed over both male candidates, one a Harvard-educated economist and billionaire, the other a seasoned politician with well-established networks.