Heterogeneity and asymmetry. The participation of interest groups in the parliamentary debate on the Water Code in Chile

Abstract

The controversies that develop around the relations between society and nature assume varied forms of emergence, expression and resolution, given that they are marked by the interests that participate in them. This paper analyzes the participation of interest groups in the parliamentary debate produced in the first two constitutional procedures on the Water Code Reform in Chile, in order to identify ways in which their heterogeneity organizes agreements about what water is for Chilean society. After analyzing the composition of these debates, it is concluded that the heterogeneity of the interest groups involved operates as a method of legitimacy, but at the same time contains geographic, organic and epistemic asymmetries which favor groups from the central regions of the country.