Abstract

This contribution gives an overview of Chile’s economic constitution and its impact on social rights, within the context of Chile entering the process that will possibly lead to replacing the country’s 1980 Constitution which lacks legitimacy due to its dictatorship origins and its incapacity to address structural inequality. The article argues that it is uncertain whether the Constitutional Convention will manage to overcome elite pre- dominance and ‘path dependency’ in relation to Chile’s economic system and reticence to providing strong social rights protection.