Poder central y poder local: disputa socio-imaginaria durante la Covid-19 Translated title: Central power and local power: socio-imaginary dispute during Covid-19

Abstract

Resumen Durante la Covid-19 en Chile, el poder presidencial, centralizado e instituido, tomó una serie de decisiones que no fueron del todo aceptadas en el territorio. Así, las alcaldías, poder local e instituyente, implementaron sus propias medidas de mitigación. El objetivo del artículo es mostrar cómo la crisis sanitaria promovió planes y decisiones de diversas municipalidades que alcanzaron mayor plausibilidad, en comparación con las propuestas del gobierno central. Se realiza un análisis a textos noticiosos, cartas de los alcaldes y discursos presidenciales en torno a la medida de suspender las clases escolares para evitar la propagación del virus. Se detectó que el imaginario social sobre el poder cambia, donde la legitimidad y plausibilidad del poder local es mayor que la del gobierno central.

Translated abstract

Abstract During Covid-19 in Chile, the presidential power, centralized and instituted, made a series of decisions that were not fully accepted in the territory. Thus, the mayors, local and institutional power, implemented their own mitigation measures. The objective of the article is to show how the health crisis promoted plans and decisions of various municipalities that achieved greater plausibility, compared to the central government's proposals. An analysis is carried out on news texts, letters from mayors and presidential speeches regarding the measure to suspend school classes to prevent the spread of the virus. It was detected that the social imaginary about power changes, where the legitimacy and plausibility of local power is greater than that of the central government.