MEXICO
Think… “It’s all about the PRI (and what they weren’t)”
Overview: The Big Picture
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System of Government: Presidential
Distribution of Power: Federal System
Electoral System: Mixed System: SMDP and PR
Constitution: Constitution of 1917
Legislature: Bicameral—Chamber of Deputies & Senate
Current Head of State: Felipe Calderon
Head of Government: Felipe Calderon
Current Ruling Party: PAN
Major Political Parties: PRI, PAN, PRD
WHY STUDY MEXICO? (FROM AP BRIEFING PAPER)
• Constitution of 1917 was model for other
progressive movements in Latin America
• Longest single-party government in the
modern world
• Mexico political system was very stable during
20th century
• Political economy is a classic example of the
challenges and prospects of the transition
from state-led development to neoliberal
economic policy
• NAFTA
MEXICO IN COMPARATIVE CONTEXT
(FROM AP BRIEFING PAPER)
• Revolutions: Russian, Chinese, and Iranian
• One-Party Rule: Russia China
– Relatively unique,
– Democratic façade but Mexican transition to democracy did not
require building new institutions from scratch (China and
Russia), but rather breathing life into preexisting institutions
that had been dormant because of one party rule.
• Dual-Transition : Russia
– From a socialist economy to a market economy AND from
authoritarian rule to democracy
– Provides a great comparison with Russia
• Oil: All
– All six countries in AP curriculum are major producers of oil
– Mexico contrasts with Iran and Nigeria in that they are not
rentier states
– Only 7% of Mexico’s export earnings come from oil (Iran: 80%
and Nigeria: 90-95%)
Newly Industrializing & Less
Developed Countries
• So far, advanced democracies and communist or postcommunist countries
• However, vast majority of countries in the world have neither
liberal-democratic or communist regimes.
• Commonalities:
– All struggle with economic issues, including poverty, low
GNPs, trade dependency, and weakness of infastrcture.
– Most LCD are currently developing fragile democracies.
– Many still have dictators, millitary leaders, or monarchs,
but industrialization and modernization (higher levels of
education wealth) are slowly eroding their power.
Newly Industrializing & Less
Developed Countries
• Key Terms: Quiz Tomorrow
1. Newly Industrializing Countries
2. Less Developed Countries
3. Compressed Modernity
4. Economic liberalization
5. Gross National Product
6. Purchasing Power Parity
7. Neocolonialism
8. Westernization Model
9. Dependency Theory
10. Import substitution
11. Export-oriented industrialization
Economic Development
• Economic liberalization, GNP, PPP and per
capita GNP
• Percentage of Labor Force Occupied
– Primary Sector (agriculture)
– Secondary Sector (industry)
– Tertiary Sector (services)
• Theories of Economic Development
– Westernization Model
– Dependency Theory
– *in reality, all are a blend of both
Economic Development
• Economic Policies in Less-Developed World
– Import Substitution
– Export-Oriented Industrialization
Political Development
– Democratization
– Political liberalization
– Failed state
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS IN MEXICO
(ETHEL WOOD)
• Introduction: Read aloud
SOVEREIGNTY, AUTHORITY, AND POWER
• Colonialism to Independence to
Revolution to PRI
– What was the common thread of power?
– Authoritarian…small group of people rule
– Major impact on political culture
SOVEREIGNTY, AUTHORITY, AND POWER
• Legitimacy
– Mexican citizens consider government and its
power legitimate
– Sources of Legitimacy
• Revolution of 1910-1911
– Admiration of revolutionary leaders, Hidalgo, Juarez, Zapata,
Pancho Villa, Lazaro Cardenas
– Seen as acceptable path to change, and charisma is highly
valued as a leadership characteristic
• PRI
– Revolution legitimized by the formation of PRI in 1929
– Constitution written during this era, three-branches of
government, but PRI was intended to stabilize power in the
hands of its leaders.
SOVEREIGNTY, AUTHORITY, AND POWER
• Historical Traditions
– Historical traditions divided into three
stages of development: Colonialism, chaos
of 19th and 20th century, and emphasis on
economic development during recent
history
– Key Concepts: (Page 193)
• Authoritarianism
• Populism
• Power Plays/Divisions within the Elite
• Instability and Legitimacy Issues.
POLITICAL CULTURE
• STRONG SENSE OF NATIONAL IDENTITY: Mexicans share strong
sense of national identification based on a common history,
dominant religion and language.
– The Importance of Religion
• Catholic Church power has been reduced…..kind of ..
– Patron-Clientelism (Camarillos)
• This system of cliques based on personal connections and charismatic
leadership has served as glue that has held agrarian Mexico together
through practicing “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”.
• Elite Spanish model of governing
• Erodes sense of responsibility to people and country
• Breeds corruption
• Democratization and industrialization have put pressure on this system.
– Economic Dependency
• Always been in someone’s shadow…Spain then U.S.
GEOGRAPHIC INFLUENCE
• Never underestimate the power of simple
geography to explain (or create) internal
differences in a country.
• Mexico is one of the most geographically diverse
countries in the world
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Mountains and Deserts = Regionalism
Varied Climates = size creates different experiences
Natural Resources = create disproportional wealth
A long border with the United States = shadow
111,000,000 People = huge influence on
Urban Population = great impact on political support
POLITICAL & ECONOMIC CHANGE
• Read Introduction: Ethel Woods p.194
• Historical Influences Divided into Three Parts
– Colonialism
– Independence (1821) until Revolution of 1910
– The 20th Century after Revolution
• Colonialism: Impact
– Cultural heterogeneity (mestizo)
– Catholicism (spread into country-side)
– Economic Dependency (controlled by Spain)
POLITICAL & ECONOMIC CHANGE
• Independence (1821) until Revolution of 1910
– The New Country
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Instability and legitimacy issues
Rise of Military
Domination by the United States
Liberal vs. Conservative Struggle
– “The Porfiriato” 1876-1911
• A military coup : Porfirio ruled for 34 years
• Dictatorship
• Impact
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Stability
Authoritarianism
Foreign Investment and economic growth
Growing gap between rich and poor
Revolution!
POLITICAL & ECONOMIC CHANGE
• The 20th Century after Revolution (1910-2010)
– The Influence of this Era
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Patron-Client System (caudillos) From revolution
Constitution of 1917
Conflict with Catholic Church (losing power)
Establishment of PRI
– ALL ABOUT THE ELITE, NOT THE PEOPLE—IT’S AN ELITE POWER
SHARING PLAN
– PLAN: All Caudillos under one party
– Agreement to “pass around” power
– Sexenio of President
– All other leaders would have major gov’t positions.
– “Instutionalize” the revolution by stabilizing conflict between
leaders
POLITICAL & ECONOMIC CHANGE
• The 20th Century after Revolution (1910-2010)
– The Cardenas Upheaval (1934-1940)
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Redistribution of Land
Nationalization of Industry (PEMEX)
Investments in Public Works
Removal of Military from overt political involvement
Encouragement of Peasant and Union Organization
Concentration of Power in Presidency
Proved incredibly durable and led to pattern of PRIdominated politics, as each PRI president hand picked his
successor
• Proved to be stable and internally legitimate
• Called the “perfect dictatorship”
POLITICAL & ECONOMIC CHANGE
• The 20th Century after Revolution (1910-2010)
– The Emergence of Technicos and the Pendulum
Theory
• Pendulum Theory
• Neoliberalism
• Mexican Miracle
Carlos Salinas (1988-1994)
• Opened the economy to foreign
trade and privatized nationalized
industry in an attempt to modernize
• Privatization caused and increase in
gap between rich and poor, leading
to a revolt in Chiapas
• Paved way for downfall of PRI oneparty rule
2000 Election
• Vicente Fox Wins! – Partido Accion National
(PAN)
• This changed caused political scientists to be
optimistic about democratic rule in Mexico
• Mexico has been able to take control of its
economic system in a way that most
developing countries have not.
• It has raised the standard of living of most of
it’s citizens
2006 Election
• PAN won. PRD second. PRI last.
• Felipe Calderon (PAN) won.
• Andres Lopez Obrador (PRD) lost, but challenged the
results
• PRD, the leftist party in Mexican politics challenged the
election
• Obrador vowed to protest and vowed to set up a parallel
government in which his supporters would answer to him.
• Obrador’s supporters and others declared that the
election was not free and fair, calling into question
Calderon’s ability to hold power legitimately
• Judicial branch validated election…AND it was followed!
• Liberal democracy in Mexico?
POLITICAL STRUCTURES AND INSTITUTIONS
• Nature of the regime? One-party
democracy evolving toward “true”
democracy? Authoritarian regime?
–Hybrid: part-free, part authoritarian
–Democratic breakthrough election of
2000 and 2006
• In sum, classifying the structure of
government in Mexico is difficult
POLITICAL STRUCTURES AND INSTITUTIONS
• On Paper:
– Constitution of 1917 sets up a democracy
– Presidential system with three autonomous branches of
government with checks and balances and federalism.
• In Practice:
– Mexico’s system is highly centralized
– The president had very few restraints on his power
– President completely dominated the legislature and
judicial branches
– The majority of those elected to public office, were
appointees who were named to their positions by higherups within in PRI (known as camarillas)
– Reelection is prohibited
• Meaning that there is massive turnover with each election and no
experience of legislature to draw on
FEDERALISM
• Mexico is a federal system
– 31 states and the federal district (Mexico City)
– Each state is divided into municipals
• System is classified as Political Centralism
– Meaning that there is a concentration of power at the
federal level, although there are elections for local
officials
• Each layer of government successively weaker
• PROSNAL (National Solidarity Program)
– A program of revenue sharing that was implemented
– Goal: to shift decision-making authority over public
education and health care to the states
THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
• Federal Congress—Two Houses
– Senate
• 128 member upper chamber
• has exclusive power to oversee foreign affairs, primarily
conducted by the president
• has power to remove state governors and depose state
legislatures
– Chamber of Deputies
• 500 member lower house
• all revenue bills originate in lower house
• has power over appropriations and budget oversight
THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
• Election process
– Mixed electoral system
• Both houses employ a mixed system in which some
members are elected by plurality vote in single member
districts, while others are elected by a system of
proportional representation of closed party lists.
• 2 %minimum winning threshold
• The mixed member system has led to a three-party
system in which most of the regions now have twoparty systems but nationally the vote is split into three
main blocks
• President has veto power over legislation
– This caused a stalemate during Vicente Fox’s term
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
• Presidential vetoes
– Can take two forms
• Regular veto, in which the president expresses
his rejection of a bill
• Corrective veto, in which the president
requests that Congress amend the bill, usually
because of technical errors in the text
• In either case, Congress can insist on the
original text of the bill by a two-thirds vote,
after which the president must publish the
legislation
THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
• More dominant political actor in Mexico for
the greater part of the twentieth century
• Possessed broad range of unwritten but
generally recognized “metaconstitutional”
powers
• Power is concentrated in the executive—
presedencialismo
• Other government branches take their cues
from the president
• Has veto power over legislature
• The president has traditionally handpicked
his successor, Vicente Fox did not
THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
• Requirements for “metaconstitutional”
presidential power
1. Unified Government (legislative control).
2. High party discipline in the ruling party.
3. Recognition of the President as head of party.
• When in place, the president can rule
without regard to constitution (PRI rule)
• When all three do not exist, executivelegislative relations follow constitutional
rather than partisan norms. (post 1997)
EXECUTIVE-LEGISLATIVE RELATIONS
• Once true that president presided over a
compliant legislature
• With the end of PRI-dominance, this is no
longer true
• Vicente Fox had significant difficulties
getting many of his programs passed
through the legislative branch
• Fox only had 41% of seats in lower
chamber
POLITICAL PARTIES: PRI
• Established with the goal of reducing political conflict
• Cardenas transformed the party into a mass-based political
party that could be used to build popular support for
government policies and mobilize participation in elections
• Cardenas merged local, state and national organizations of
peasants and urban workers that had been created during
his presidency
• Party became appendage to the government itself
• Party enjoyed unlimited access to government funds to
finance its campaigns.
• President enjoyed a slush fund “authorized” by congress
• Many of the advantages were challenged when the Salinas
administration introduced electoral reforms, and the PRI
had to adjust form being an official party to being a party
out of power
POLITICAL PARTIES: PAN
• Party that represents the views on the right of
the ideological spectrum.
• Established in reaction to the leftward drift of
public policy under Cardenas, especially his
policies to support socialist public education
• Founders included Catholic intellectuals and
urban middle class
• It also attracts votes from socially conservative
peasants and the urban working class
POLITICAL PARTIES: PRD
• Represents the left of the ideological
spectrum
• Members believe in moderate socialist
political ideas
• Some who lean toward a communist ideology
THE SHIFTING OF MEXICO’S PARTIES
• After 2006 election, social basis of support for
parties shifted dramatically
– PRI’s base was once rural, but in 2006 it was the
PRD who took the rural and poor vote
– PAN retained its support with urban voters and
young voters
– Region played the biggest role in determining the
outcome of the vote
– PRD is weak in northern and central states, but
strong in Mexico City
– The North-South split proved to be biggest
cleavage in Mexican politics
ELITE RECRUITMENT
• Who becomes one of Mexico’s political elite?
– Recruited predominantly from the middle class
– 1982-2000 mostly people born or raised in
Mexico City
• Postgraduate education, especially at elite foreign
universities and in disciplines such as economics and
public administration
– Vincente Fox favored persons with nongovernmental
experience and who had no political party affiliation.
– Calderon had an MA in economics and public
administration (latter from Harvard) and had extensive
party experience.
ELITE RECRUITMENT
• Revolution caused a hostile attitude toward
serving multiple terms, so political leaders are
restricted to serving one term
• Cabinet filled with tecnicos
– People who spend their entire careers in the
bureaucracy
• Kinship ties
– Political inbreeding
INTEREST ARTICULATION & POLITICAL CONTROL
• Corporatist
– A system of interest representation in which Each
citizen is expected to relate to the state through a
single structure “licensed” by the state to organize
and represent themselves (peasants, teachers,
etc.)
• In sum, a number of PRI-controlled interest
groups dominate politics
• Result: Patron-client networks in which favors
were exchanged between citizens and
members of the government.
GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
PROMOTING ECONOMIC GROWTH &REDUCING
POVERTY
• Mexico has experienced impressive economic
gains, some credit should be given to
government policies
• Foreign investment and the privatization of
national industry led to massive public
investments in infrastructure
• This has led to a stimulation of the economy,
economic growth, and low inflation
GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
PROMOTING ECONOMIC GROWTH &REDUCING POVERTY
• Neoliberal economic development
– Describes the idea of allowing free markets and
foreign investment
• Standard of living of middle class Mexicans has
improved
• Dark side of economy
– The poor remain desperately poor
– Much lower living standard than the poor in
industrialized countries
– Income gap between urban and rural lifestyles
remains great
– Suffered through periods of very high inflation
GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
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PROMOTING ECONOMIC GROWTH &REDUCING
POVERTY
Because of belief that oil revenues would be
guaranteed income, the government
borrowed heavily abroad.
When oil prices decline, the government was
forced to suspend repayment of foreign debt.
US helped renegotiate term, but Mexico
remains heavily in debt.
Selinas disaster of 1994—capital flight of $10
billion in one week.
RULE OF LAW AND MEXICO’S FUTURE
• Lacks rule of law that one finds in many
industrialized nations
• Crime is rampant
• Justice is infrequently served
• Police are corrupt (in part because of low pay)
• Prospect of Democracy in Mexico
– Elections have become as free and fair as
industrialized nations
– Economic performance has been mixed
– Rule of law is lacking
– Jury still out on whether or not Mexico will
successfully transition to democracy
CURRENT POLICY CHALLENGES
• Playing catch up!: with international trading
partners
• To modernize: it must modernize its
agricultural sector to allow it to survive
competition from countries that have
subsidies to make their goods cheaper.
• Maintain job growth
• Renovate energy sector
• Accommodate aging population
• Politically: Maintain fair and transparent
election process
WHAT I DIDN’T DISCUSS IN CLASS…
• Political Socialization
• Political Culture
–How do Mexicans feel about their
government?
• You are responsible for all of this
information!
MEXICO