What is it about?
This article examines how the militarization of public security in Chile developed before the 2019 social uprising. It argues that a key turning point was the military response to the 2010 earthquake and tsunami, when a State of Constitutional Exception allowed the armed forces to assume public order and security functions. By tracing repeated disaster-related states of exception between 2010 and 2019, the article shows how disaster response became a pathway through which military involvement in internal security was gradually normalized.
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Why is it important?
The article challenges the idea that Chile’s recent militarization of public security began only with the repression of the October 2019 social uprising. It shows that disaster governance played a crucial role in expanding and legitimizing the military’s domestic role. This matters because the increasing use of states of exception in response to disasters can blur the line between humanitarian assistance, public order, and repression, with important consequences for democracy, civilian control, and human rights.
Perspectives
Disasters are usually understood as humanitarian emergencies, but they can also become political moments in which states redefine security, expand exceptional powers, and normalize military intervention in civilian life. The Chilean case shows how repeated disaster responses between 2010 and 2019 helped institutionalize a model in which the armed forces were increasingly trained, authorized, and expected to act in matters of public order. This perspective invites scholars, policymakers, and civil society actors to pay closer attention to the security consequences of emergency governance, especially in contexts marked by social conflict and recurring climate-related disasters.
Mariano Del Pópolo
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Disasters and the Militarization of Security in Chile: From the 2010 earthquake to the 2019 Social Uprising, Latin American Perspectives, May 2026, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0094582x261448151.
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