Introduction

The Industry Building or Edificio de la Industria is a gleaming high rise in a prime area of Santiago's new business district. Sofofa (Sociedad de Fomento Fabril), the long-standing industry association, constructed the Edificio de la Industria in the 1990s in order to move out of its old quarters in the declining city center. Sofofa occupies the first three stories of the building, and made a lot of money selling space on the floors above. Similar stories of wealth, modernization, and institutional strength could be told about other peak sectoral associations in mining, construction, and agriculture, as well as for the economy-wide peak association, the CPC (Confederación de la Producción y del Comercio). In organizational terms, business in Chile ranks on the high end of the continuum of strong encompassing associations along with Mexico and Colombia.

The similarities and contrasts among these three countries are revealing. As in Colombia, Chilean business organized voluntary associations with significant institutional capacity that derived strength from their institutionalized access to policy making. Business elites also frequently circulated through top policy positions in government, though this circulation was more variable and ended with the return to civilian rule in 1990. Beyond these broad similarities, the contrasts with Colombia are significant.