El Frente Popular: Representaciones sobre la ciudadanía en Chile, 1930-1950

Abstract

The Frente Popular: Representations of Citizenship in Chile, 1930-1950 This article seeks to characterize the representations of citizenship as promoted by the political actors of the Frente Popular (Popular Front), a centre-left coalition of parties in Chile around 1940. Citizenship was understood as being a combination of discourses and practices that formed a complex balance which enabled the continuance of those representations far into the twentieth century, despite the Frente Popular's short existence. We identify and define the main characteristics of this citizenship as a voter citizen, a learning citizenry, a fulfilled citizenry, and a consumer citizen. Our premise is that, in contrast to projects of contemporary 'populist fronts', these representations were able to materialize in institutional practices that were visible in the public space. This allowed for the consolidation of the political project of the Frente Popular beyond its termination as a coalition in 1941 up to the end of the national leadership of the Partido Radical in 1952.