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Brown Journal of World Affairs: You were an integral part of Chile’s transition to a democratic government. What lessons could you provide from your own experiences to those advocating for democratic reforms around the world?
Ricardo Lagos: I wonder if it is possible to extrapolate on our own experience because we had a transition to a democratic government while former Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet was still in the army, which makes our transition different from others. I think that the most important factor in a democratic transition is the ability to build very broad coalitions. If you’re going to have a transition, the transition has to have the backing of the majority of the people. Therefore, in many cases, democracy is much more important than the particular ideologies of democratic parties. You thus have to postpone your own personal vision of the society you would like to build when democracy is established so that you can form a broad coalition. Second, I believe the goals of that coalition have to be clear and understandable to the people who are going to be backing the coalition. Third, how are you going to integrate, or at least clarify, the differences with those who are left behind?
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