STATE CAPACITIES, DIGITALIZATION PROCESSES IN CHILE AND THEIR EFFECTS UPON MIGRANTS´ LIVES: SELECTIVE COMPARISONS WITH THE BRAZILIAN EXPERIENCE

Abstract

State digitalization has spread globally at an overwhelming rate in the last decade or so, including in Latin America. However, in this region, strategic planning for the spread of these technologies has been mostly lacking and the training of bureaucracies to manage them insufficient. State dynamic capacities for policy coordination, leadership and legitimation have been weak. Though migrants have been affected by these processes no consistent strategy has been designed to overcome the bottlenecks they face, such as digital illiteracy, low connectivity level and access to internet devises. These facts have generated further inequalities among them and lowered their capacity for social integration. The present research focuses on how this process has developed in Chile and makes selective comparisons to that of Brazil, already analysed in a previous study. Methodologically, the research was designed as a qualitative analysis, a narrative-based, critical review of academic specialized social science literature, an analysis of selected public documents, as well as upon information produced by pro-migrant NGOs. The findings show that both countries´ experiences present more similarities than differences, though the academic analysis focuses on slightly different issues: macroeconomic trends of platform capitalism in Brazil, versus narrative-based case-studies of migrants´ experiences in Chile.