Abstract

We analyzed the long process that has shaped the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile, which has been characterized by concentrating adaptations at the economiccommercial area and maintaining the status quo or generating insubstantial accommodations in others. We argue that is due to a growing institutionalization of the private sector influence in the Ministry, while the status quo has responded to the elitist and discretionary logics that have prevailed. Likewise, we find that although there have been some innovative initiatives, they have been of less relevance compared to the permanence of the traditional (geopolitical) ideas promoted by the Armed Forces. These phenomena have an origin during the dictatorship, but they were continued and consolidated during the democratic governments. The new ministerial modernization law marks the cusp of this process.