Why Nations Fail (But Hopefully Not Think Tanks)

On Monday we're launching a new think tank in Chile, called Espacio Público. The keynote speaker is James Robinson, one of the coauthors of Why Nations Fail. My colleague Eduardo Engel interviewed him (in Spanish) here.

Downton Chile

LaTercera.com has set up a new blogs section, and a few of us who used to be occasional columnists now have these very nifty mini blogs. Mine is called Polítifunk. Today I published my first Polítifunk column, comparing Chilean politics and society -- and really what's going on in the rest of the world as well -- to the world of Dowton Abbey. We have one foot in one century and one foot in another, and unless we are very careful it is all going to end in tears. That's my happy thought for the day. Anyway, here's the column.

Mapuches, but not just Mapuches

Whenever I give talks on the challenges facing Chile in the near future, I always mention the unresolved tension with indigenous communities. This week, Ben Emmerson, UN special rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, issued a report that highlights the Chilean state's mishandling of indigenous issues, and warns that a continuation of these misguided policies could explode into real violence. The BBC reports.

Some thoughts on Egypt and Snowden

In addition to the University of Chile, I teach at the Foreign Ministry's Diplomatic Academy. Here is a bit I did (in spanish) for their online magazine, Apuntes Internacionales.

Messy Right

It has been hard to keep up with events in the Chilean right. In the last few months the two parties that make up the Alianza coalition have put forward four candidates. Today, only Evelyn Matthei remains. Here, in as succinct an explanation as any, Patricio Navia explains how and why.

Brazil

Source: AP / Nelson Antoine

Here is something I wrote with my colleague Francisco Javier Diaz (currently running for congress) on the protests in Brazil and they challenges they present for social democracy.

Belen III

What began as a personal tragedy for the family of a little girl and then became a discussion about abortion rights in Chile, has again turned into an issue of Piñera's leadership, after he went TV to announce that he was proud of Belen's "depth and maturity".

An expert quoted in this Washington Post piece, is scathing: “So what the president is saying doesn’t get close to the psychological truth of an 11-year-old-girl. It’s a subjective view that is not based on any scientific reasoning to support it.”