Problemas y Desafíos de la Participación Política: La Mirada de la Élite Empresarial sobre el Abstencionismo Electoral en Chile.

Research on electoral abstentionism in Chile has paid little attention to how elites evaluate this problem; this is true even to a greater extent in the case of business representatives. This article analyses the political attitudes of the Chilean business elite in terms of their valuations, perceptions and positions. On the basis of 40 interviews with the leaders of two important employers’ associations, it can be seen that the leaders who were interviewed attach great importance to political variables such as institutional design, and low institutional legitimacy, as well as cultural variables. The cultural variables include the individualism of Chileans, the lack of civic culture among citizens, and the negative image of the country’s political elite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]