A crucial factor ensuring continuity had been the “pacted transition” between the party leaders of the Concertación and the representatives of the regime. Not only was the legal framework kept in place—the transition took place within the confines of the 1980 constitution—but also the structure of the state in terms of socioeconomic organization remained intact: “What continuismo provided for the democratic administrations was stability. It led to business support for democracy, it brought renovated socialists and Christian Democrats together around an economic strategy, and it provided a set of macroeconomic indicators that were perceived as desirable for further liberalisation” (Barton 2002, 363).

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1607