Reforma del estado
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The Consortium

Objectives

This project seeks to contribute in the process of reform of the Chilean State through an entity of partnerships united in a pluralist political-technical consortium. The entity aspires to be a technical referent, endowed with political legitimacy to be considered a referral in the process of reform.
The Consortium hopes to be a viable and continuous effort, working beyond the actual government, and with the clear objective of contributing in the construction of the National Agreement for the State Reform suggested by the Minister of Interior.
Through collaborative work, using new technologies and enabling the participation of diverse actors, the Consortium aims to help realize the idea of a more efficient and transparent fiscal apparatus, incorporating the citizen in the design of public policies in Chile.

Background

Although international indicators evaluate the performance of the Chilean State in a positive light in comparison with its pairs of the region and around the world, the deficiencies of the system have become evident. Management issues at state level imply costs in the potential growth of the economy and restrict the capacity to unfold effectively public policies that contribute to social equity.
Diverse actors (both public and private) have outlined the need to improve the efficiency of the Chilean State, because they consider it to be the key to recover a position on the road to development.  Thus, they have incited urgency in this task.
Sharing this diagnosis, a cross-sectional group of university and training centers created the Consortium for the State Reform, and its objective is to elaborate proposals with political-technical sustenance of Modernization of the State. This includes the promotion of an ample consensus to grant political viability to the initiatives.
The Minister of Interior summoned a national agreement in April of 2008 for the construction of the State that Chile needs. This call provoked the enthusiastic support of the private sector and mass media. The President, Michelle Bachelet, confirmed her support to this initiative in the speech of May 21.

In the same line, on June 30 of 2008, in a declaration titled “Growth and Competitiveness: Responsibility of all”, the Confederation of Production and Commerce of Chile affirmed that one of the central pillars to obtain the enunciated objective is the need of a modern State. This organization indicated the importance it has given to the promotion of initiatives that aim to make Chile a more competitive and prepared country for globalization. The collectivity pointed out that this implies promoting a profound State reformation, aimed to improve its functions and management. In this sense, the declaration promotes the appearance of proposals to make the State more efficient, agile and transparent, assuming that great consensuses are required in an initiative in which the private sector has already shown interest to participate in.

Citizen Participation

The process of modernizing the State is complex, not only because of the time span it implies, but because there are technical and political complexities that demand an agreed treatment of the challenge. Of course, and without any intention to damage the possibility of identifying and applying in the short term certain measures to improve the public management, it is evident that greater – and necessary – reforms require a time frame that exceeds the temporary horizons the present government provides, from the conception until the implementation of technical and political consensuses and without forgetting the roll that citizen participation has in this process.
It is necessary to point out that many of the benefits will become visible in the long term, but some of their costs of implementation will be made evident immediately. This usually affects the capacity and disposition of governments of short duration to approach any process of change unless it counts on an ample political and citizen endorsement. Because of this, it is essential to obtain an ample technical and political consensus, so the reform of the State that Chile needs is not only politically viable, but includes the participation of citizen in a way that the role it plays is recognized as support and as an important contribution in the work areas.