Naim Bro's column in La Tercera: 1925, the hinge that opened the door

September 18, 2025 marks the centenary of the 1925 Constitution. It is often remembered for its legal architecture—the separation of church and state, the strengthening of the presidential system—but the real change occurred on another level: who entered politics. It was not just a new legal framework; it was a hinge that opened the door to new actors.

In a paper currently under review, together with Juan Luna, we compiled two historical series that allow us to observe this change. The first brings together all members of parliament from 1830 to the present day. The logic is simple, and has already been validated in previous studies: some surnames are concentrated for generations in elite circles, while others are common among the general population. Looking back at the 19th and early 20th centuries, Congress appears to have been dominated by the traditional elites. However, in the 1920s, there was a notable shift: the representation of these elite surnames declined, while the González, Muñoz, and Rojas surnames increased in the chamber.

The second measurement focuses on language. We digitized all parliamentary speeches between 1910 and 1950 and estimated the ideological disposition of each legislator based on their discourse, using a technique called text-based ideal points. What did we find? That the 1920s marked the greatest ideological shift of the period: the general tone of Congress shifted toward a more transformative register, with greater emphasis on social issues and language of change. And this was true not only of left-wing parties, but also of right-wing parties.

After two failed attempts, 2025 will not end with a new Constitution. However, everything indicates that we are entering another phase of reorganization. The ideological groups and projects that will mark the coming decades seem to be reconfiguring themselves. It is possible that, just as a hundred years ago, we are witnessing another moment of historical recomposition of a magnitude similar to that of 1925.

Naim Bro is an Assistant Professor at the School of Government at Adolfo Ibáñez University and holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge. He conducts research on political elites, social stratification, and computational social sciences. He is a Young Researcher at the Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data and has published in Plos One, Theory & Society, and the Journal of Information Technology & Politics.

Published in La Tercera and UAI