TECHNOCRACY TRAJECTORY IN CHILE, 1850s - 1970s

This article inquiries about the presence and influence of the technocratic mentality in the policy formulation in the old Chilean democracy, that which ended on September 11, 1973. Based on the collected evidence, it concludes that the technocratic influence expanded and deepened as long as the State faced problems of increasing complexity, which demanded solutions from the available expert knowledge. The article identifies technocratic influence in the 1850s already, a more extensive deployment in the 1920s and its consolidation between the 1930s and 1970s. Thus, this study contradicts a common idea that states that the technocratic influence is a distinctive characteristic of the new Chilean democracy, that emerging in 1990 after the end of the authoritarian regime. Information comes from official documents, press, academic literature and interviews. That information has been analyzed applying documental historical and hermeneutical methods.Keywords: Technocracy, Expert Knowledge, Chile, Public Policy.