8. Argentina–Chile–Uruguay: Comparing Trajectories of Democratisation in Latin America’s Southern Cone

Chile and Uruguay are generally considered the two more high quality democracies in South America. In this paired comparison, Argentina is also included as a shadow case, and also has fair democratic credentials, although its sources of weakness are quite distinctive. Until very recently the scholarly consensus rated Chile best of all, but in this three-way comparison Uruguay emerges as displaying the most positive trajectory. Very recently the social explosion in Chile in 2019, followed by the ensuing referendum on the convening of a Constituent Assembly, has generated a wider reassessment of that republic’s political status. This chapter aims to show that the flaws in Chile’s democratisation stretch right back to the 1980s. Both Argentina and Uruguay re-democratised before Chile and broke more clearly with their military dictatorships. This chapter pinpoints the oddities of the Chilean trajectory and highlights Uruguay’s advantages compared to its neighbours.