Abstract

This article analyses the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) and the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) of Chile, both of which could be considered religiously oriented parties. On the basis of the typology introduced in this special issue, we conclude that the PDC has oscillated between the progressive and conservative types. Meanwhile, the UDI represents an uncontested example of the conservative type. However, both parties share a number of traits. First, they both emerged as youth movements in the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where a sizable portion of the country's elite are educated. Second, they both represented movements that sought to break with established political forces, by occupying a specific (and untapped) ideological niche, and by engaging in innovative mobilization strategies. Third, a short time after their creation, both parties witnessed rapid electoral growth, which they consolidated over time. Both parties remain electorally successful today, even in the wake of increasing levels of secularization in Chilean society. Our comparative analysis of both parties describes their historical trajectory in the party system, as well as their contemporary organizational and ideological characteristics. We also analyse each party's doctrinaire influences and their relation to the Chilean and global Catholic Church.