Background
He was born on November 26, 1918 in Viña del Mar, Chile, the eldest son of Miguel Aylwin Gajardo, an eminent lawyer who served as president of Chile's supreme court, and Laura Azócar.
( The importance of the youth vote to any democracy is ce...)
The importance of the youth vote to any democracy is central to this cross-cultural analysis of the unique role of electionsand the dangers of abstentionin a democratic society. Comparative data from the parliamentary elections of 15 European democracies illustrate the scope of the problem of low youth turnout, and analyses of the reasons for such negligible participation are presented. Specially commissioned interviews conducted in several countries worldwide bring the opinions and views of young people themselves into the study. Additionally, descriptions of specific programmes for increasing youth participation enacted in Chile, Russia, South Africa, and the United States and included, as are proposals for a variety of activities that governmental and nongovernmental organizations can use to draw young citizens into the electoral arena.
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He was born on November 26, 1918 in Viña del Mar, Chile, the eldest son of Miguel Aylwin Gajardo, an eminent lawyer who served as president of Chile's supreme court, and Laura Azócar.
Patricio attended public school, distinguished himself in studies and such extracurricular activities as student politics, and meditated the lessons of an uncle, Guillermo Azócar, a socialist senator in the Chilean congress.
Aylwin finished his secondary studies at the Internado Nacional Barros Arana and entered law school at the University of Chile in 1936.
In law school Aylwin served on student-faculty committees considering university reforms, stimulated student forums, and emerged as one of the leaders of his student generation.
In 1943 Aylwin received his law degree and in 1946.
In 1946 he was appointed professor of administrative law at the University of Chile. By this time he had developed his writing and rhetorical skills, publishing in student and politico-religious magazines.
In 1945 he joined the Falange Nacional, a group dominated by ex-members of the Conservative Party concerned with issues of social justice and the search for a Christian alternative to capitalism and Marxism. An article published in the magazine Política Y Espiritu called "The Truth about the Coal, " in which he defended workers against repressive measures taken by the government, drew the attention of Leonor Oyarzún Ivanovic, who met Aylwin in 1947.
Aylwin is counted among the founding generation of Chilean Christian Democracy. He served as the party vice president from 1948 to 1950 and had already lost two elections by 1951-one for city council and another for congress.
In 1951 Aylwin was elected president of the Christian Democratic Party, a post he would hold repeatedly in the years to come, including the years 1965-1967 and 1987-1989, the latter during the tense transition from authoritarian to elected government in Chile.
In 1964 Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei was elected president of Chile and proclaimed his intention to carry out a "peaceful revolution. " This included agrarian reform, tax reform, and encouragement of labor unionization and community organization among the urban poor. Patricio Aylwin, as senator for the provinces of Curicó, Talca, Linares, and Maule, became President Frei's staunchest ally against both the opposition from the political right and the impatience of the political left. Within the Christian Democratic Party, Aylwin also supported Frei against critics who desired a faster, more intense process of change. Aylwin reiterated his support for Frei and the government's program frequently, coming always back to a basic theme which would reappear in the first year of his own presidency (1990).
Aylwin's efforts could not prevent the eventual splintering of the Christian Democratic Party nor its loss in the 1970 elections; he remained nonetheless a loyal party leader and supporter of President Frei, committed to peaceful social reform and democratic politics.
When a leftist coalition, the Popular Unity Government, headed by President Salvador Allende, succeeded the Frei government, Aylwin became a vocal and effective leader of the opposition. The radical political and social reforms introduced by the Allende administration polarized Chilean politics and resulted in economic destabilization. As the political crisis came to a head, Aylwin engaged in negotiations with President Allende on behalf of the Christian Democratic Party, but was unable to arrive at a satisfactory resolution. Aylwin criticized the Allende government for not respecting the basic norms of democratic politics and noted that compromise was impossible "when official spokespersons characterize the opposition as 'enemies of the people' who must be 'crushed and destroyed. '"
By July-August 1973 Aylwin emphasized that the "institutional stability of the republic was! gravely threatened. "
On September 11, 1973, a military coup ended the Allende government. Aylwin initially called upon the Chilean people and his party to collaborate with the military government, believing it to be temporary, but soon became a vocal opponent of the brutal dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet that would endure almost 17 years.
Aylwin, as president of the Christian Democratic Party until 1976, gradually moved the party to open opposition against the military regime.
In 1978 he formed part of the "Group for Constitutional Studies, " which attempted to develop a political system to replace the dictatorship. He campaigned actively against the 1980 constitution imposed in a plebiscite orchestrated by Pinochet, continuing this opposition until the late 1986.
In 1988, though, a plebiscite surprisingly prevented Pinochet from ruling eight more years. As a result, an election was set up in 1989 under the terms of the 1980 constitution, and Aylwin was elected president of Chile. Aylwin had taken a key leadership role in constructing a broad coalition of parties and movements to defeat the Pinochet regime in the October 1988 plebiscite.
The Presidency Aylwin took office on March 11, 1990, presiding over a coalition of 17 parties ranging from his own Christian Democrats, Socialists, and Radicals to small esoteric parties such as the Humanists.
President Aylwin faced the practically impossible task of meeting the pent-up demand for social and economic improvements of the poorest of Chileans while sustaining economic growth. In addition, he inherited the legacy of human rights abuses, mass graves, and other aberrations of the military regime in a system in which the military still exercised considerable legal and physical force. Aylwin and his supporters declared that he would be "President of all Chileans, " that he sought "truth and reconciliation, " and that economic policy would seek gradually to improve the plight of the poor and maintain investment incentives to guarantee growth. In his first two months in the presidency Aylwin sent 28 proposed laws to the newly-opened congress, and others followed.
In 1991, the Organization of American States (OAS) held its annual meeting in Santiago in recognition of Chile's return to democracy. At that meeting, the OAS passed a resolution to defend democracy if it was threatened in any member county. Political instability and the crises in Haiti and Peru were discussed in White House meetings between the U. S. President George Bush and Aylwin. They agreed that restoring constitutional processes in Haiti and Peru was important for the democratic consolidation throughout the hemisphere.
President Aylwin was the first Chilean leader to make a state visit to the United States in 30 years.
( The importance of the youth vote to any democracy is ce...)
Aylwin married Leonor Oyarzún Ivanovic in October 1948, and raised a family of five children, all of whom shared in Aylwin's political career to some degree.