Mexico:
Government & Politics
KEY CONCEPTS OF MEXICO
• Mexican Revolution had a great impact on its political culture and
the Constitution of 1917
• It has a Presidential system with a legislature that features a mixed
PR and a single-member, Federal System of Gov.
• One party dominated for 70 years (PRI)
• Multi-party system now: PRD, PRI, PAN
• Single 6 year term
• Fraud was rampant in Mexican politics
• Had a corporatist system: PRI distributed benefits to key groups
• Camarilla system: network of PRI supporters in federal positions
• PRI dominance came to an end in 2000 ( Fox won)
• Unstable economy, illegal drug trade, emigration to US
• Developing country….NIC ( Newly Industrialized Country)
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Overview: The Big
Picture
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: Enrique Pena Nieto
Head of Government: Enrique Pena Nieto
Current Ruling Party: PRI
Major Political Parties: PRI, PAN, PRD
December 1, 2000 –
Vicente Fox became President
• Why is that important?
– For the first time in 71 years,
the President of Mexico did
not represent the
Institutional Revolutionary
Party (PRI)
– Fox is from the National
Action Party (PAN)
– The other major party in
Mexico is the PRD
– Current Mexican President
Enrique Pena Nieto
PRI rule was called the perfect
dictatorship. Why?
• Conflict was limited to internal struggles
within the party.
• What about those who disagreed?
– Dissenters were co-opted with promises or
just repressed!
• So why the change?
•Mexicans questioned the right of the PRI to
monopolize political power
•Wanted fairer elections, more responsive public
officials
•Demanded the right of opposition parties to
compete with the PRI on an equal basis
•Said the president had too much power and the
PRI was corrupt
•Not ready in 1994 when Ernesto Zedillo (PRI)
easily won, but by 2000 they had had enough
•In the last two decades, reformers wanted Mexico
to have a market-oriented economic system to
replace the state-dominated one, but…
•But, it caused problems for citizens
•New policies and economic crises affected
people adversely. How?
•Incomes fell, bankrupt businesses, jobs
lost, services cut
•But Fox has stuck with these policies,
resulting in…
•More inequality. The elites are richer, but
four out of every ten Mexicans live on
less than two dollars a day.
•What are the implications of this for the U.S.?
•Given this inequality, why has there been no
revolution in Mexico?
Mexican Geography
•~100 million inhabitants makes Mexico the second
largest country in Latin America
•Largest Spanish speaking country in the world
•Over 70% live in urban areas
•Mexico City has over 20 million people
•Borders – U.S. – 2000 miles, Guatemala – 600 miles,
Belize – 160 miles
•Migration is a major issue; economic opportunities in the
industrial cities of the north lead many men and women to
seek jobs in the maquiladoras, or assembly factories. Some
go on to the U.S.
•Problem repeats in reverse in the South, as poorer Central
Americans look for jobs in Mexico.
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
Mexican History
• The Porfiriato 1876-1911(Porfirio
Diaz)
• The Revolution of 1910
– Reformers end the dictatorship
• Constitution of 1917
– Guaranteed agrarian reform, social
security, right to organize in unions,
minimum wage, eight hour workday,
universal secular education, adult male
suffrage. Women do not get the right to
vote in national elections until 1958.
• Lazaro Cardenas 1934-1940
– Land reform
– Established the tradition of the sexenio
Pancho Villa (right) and
Emiliano Zapata meet in
Mexico City to discuss the
revolution.
More Mexican History
• From clientelism to oil 1940-1982
– PRI and Patronage
– Oil in the Gulf of Mexico
– Fluctuating prices
• Crisis and Reform 1982 to the present
– Presidents Miguel de la Madrid (1982-1988) and Carlos Salinas (19881994) introduce major reversal of the country’s development strategy,
limiting the government’s involvement in the economy
– NAFTA – 1993
– Economic crisis of 1994 and bailout
– Mexican economic reforms
– Rebellion in Chiapas 1994
– Assassination of Luis Donaldo Colosio (1994), PRI candidate for
President, and Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, secretary-general of the
PRI.
– Election of Fox in 2000
– Election of Felipe Calderon in 2006, narrowly defeating Lopez Obrador
of the PRD.
POLITICAL
C
ULTURE
S
N
I
: Mexicans
• STRONG ENSE OF ATIONAL DENTITY
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.
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POLITICAL & ECONOMIC
The 20 CenturyC
after
Revolution (1910HANGE
th
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
Cafter
HANGE
• The 20 Century
Revolution (1910th
2010)
– The Emergence of Technicos and the
Pendulum Theory
• Pendulum Theory
• Neoliberalism
• Mexican Miracle
Political Parties in Mexico
left to right
PRD---------- PRI----------------PAN
POLITICAL PARTIES: PRI
Institutional Revolutionary Party
• 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
• National Action Party
• 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
• Party of the Democratic Revolution
• 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
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.
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• 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?
Calderon Wins the Presidency
in the closest Race in Mexican history
Obrador lost some in part due to:
- he did not show up for 1st debate
- negative ads turned middle class against him
Results:
• Calderon
• Obrador
• Madrazo
35.9 %
35.3 %
22.2 %
• Vicente Fox (PAN)
• Felipe Calderón (PAN)
• Andrés Manuel López Obrador (PRD)
Mexican Governance
• Mexico is a federal republic
• Under the PRI, the executive branch concentrated
almost all power, and the legislative and judiciary were
rubber stamps.
• Currently, it has multiparty competitive elections, and
power is less concentrated in the executive and national
government.
• Constitution of 1917
– Three branches of gov’t with a system of checks and
balances
– Congress is composed of:
• Senate with 128 members. Three are chosen from each
of Mexico’s 31 states (two are determined by majority
vote, and the third is determined by whichever party
receives the second highest number of votes), three
from the federal district (Mexico City), and 32 are elected
nationally by proportional representation.
• Chamber of Deputies with 500 members. 300 are chosen
by majority vote and 200 are chosen by proportional
representation.
– The president, governors, and senators are
elected for six years, while the deputies and
municipal officials are elected for three years.
– The Congress has become more active as a
decision-making arena and as a check on
presidential power in the last few years. Why?
• The Executive
• The Mexican presidency is the central institution of governance and
policy-making.
• Until the 1990’s the incumbent PRI president always selected who
would run as the party’s next presidential candidate, appointed
officials to all positions of power in the government and the PRI, and
often named the candidates, who almost always won elections as
governors, senators, deputies, and local officials.
Executive & Bureaucracy
•Mexican Presidents have many formal powers:
•Initiate legislation, lead in foreign policy, create government agencies,
make policy by decree, or through administrative regulations, and
appoint a wide range of public officials
•Informal powers include:
•Managing a giant patronage machine
•Under the PRI, presidents were almost always members of
the outgoing president’s cabinet
•Since the mid 1970’s, candidates have had impressive
educational credentials
•Appoints cabinet
•Follows traditions
•1.5 million in the federal bureaucracy, most in Mexico City
•1 million work in the state-owned industries and semi-autonomous
agencies of the government
•1.5 million work for state and local governments
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.
•Para-statal sector is very large and powerful
•Composed of government agencies, many producing goods and
services – Why so many?
•PEMEX, NAFIN
•Numbers have decreased in recent years, from a high of 1155 to 215
by 1994 – Why?
•Military is clearly subordinate to civilian control – Why?
•Military has dealt with domestic unrest
•Heavily involved in recent years to combat drug trafficking, but still
tainted by scandals
•Judiciary – Federal and state courts in Mexico
•Federal courts are topped by the Supreme Court, whose justices (11)
are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate and serve
terms of up to 15 years – Judicial review???
•Judiciary traditionally supported the President, and even though that is
changing, it remains the weakest branch
•The policy-making process
•Good legislation is not always translated into practice… What does
this mean?
•Role of Congress in policy making
•Legislation
•Committees
•Political Parties
•PRI
•PAN
•PRD
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
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
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