Chapter 5
United Mexican States (Estados
Unidos Mexicanos)
Territory = 1,964,375 sq km
Population = 118,818,228
Ethnic Groups = mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%; Amerindian30%; White 9%
Language = Spanish only 92%
Religion = Roman Catholic 82%; Pentecostal 1.6%; Jehovah’s Witness 1.4%
Independence = September 16, 1810
Constitution = February 5, 1917
Chief of State = President Enrique Pena Nieto
Chief of Government = Nieto
Bicameral Legislature- National Congress consisting of Senate and Chamber of
Deputies
Judiciary = Supreme Court of Justice
Federal form of government (31 states)
GNP per capita = $13,800
GNP Growth Rate = 5%
Out migration = 3.24 people per 1,000 per year
Currency = 12 peso = US$1
Capital City = Mexico City
President = Enrique Pena Nieto
Independence and Instability (1810-1876)
- Spanish rule for 3 centuries
- 1810 Miguel Hidalgo began war for Independence (1821 Spain recognized)
- 1833-1855 = 36 Presidential regimes
during this time Mexico lost half her territory
legacy of resentment towards the U.S. = 1848 Treaty
- Constitution of 1857 = democratic gov., bill of rights, and limits on power of church
- 1864-1867 = French rule under Emperor Maximilian
- 1867 Benito Juarez executed Maximilian
The Porfiriato (1867-1911)
- 1876 Porfirio Diaz took office
- Est. dictatorship known as Porfiriato
- centralized authoritarian government
- cientificos
Revolution and the Sonoran Dynasty
- 1910 Revolution
- 1911 Francisco Madero elected President
- 1913 Madero assassinated during a coup d’etat
Emilio Zapata
Pancho Villa
Mexican Constitution of 1917
Established formal political institutions
Agrarian reform
Social security
Right to organize unions
Minimum wage
8 hour work day
Profit sharing
Universal education
Adult male suffrage
Sonoran Dynasty
Revolutionary leaders from the North
Capitalist model of economic reform
jefe maximo = Plutarco Elias Calles
Anticlericalism (Cristiada)
Established the Institutional Revolutionary
Party (PRI)
7 decades of uninterrupted rule and nonviolent
Conflict resolution
Results of the Revolution
1. Rural landowners lost power- est. of ejidos
and ejidatarios
2. Catholic Church lost influence
3. Foreign investment curtailed
4. Emergence of political elite
5. New Constitution and new party est. strong
central gov’t.
Institutional Revolutionary Party
Presidents can only serve
One term!
Pendelum Effect
PRI became the only party that mattered
Left of the PRI
Power swings b/w factions
Through choice of Pres.
Right of the PRI
Manuel Avila Camacho
Miguel Aleman
Adolfo Ruiz Cortines
1940
1946
1952
Adolfo Lopez Mateos
Gustavo Diaz Ordaz
Luis Echeverria
1958
1964
1970
Miguel de la Madrid
Carolos Salinas de Gortari
Ernesto Zedillo
1982
1988
1994
Right
- Limits on government role in the economy
- 1993 NAFTA
Left
tecnicos
First social security system,
Rapid industrialization,
“trickle-down” economics
Limit cost of food and
Housing, repress dissent,
Economic problems
“moral renovation”,
Democratic reform, and
Shift to market economy
Implications of Mexican Modernization
Corporatist State
- interest groups as institutionalized part of the
state, not independent source of advocacy
- not true democracy
- increased state power in relation to civil society
- state defined goals for development
• PRI established political stability
- Mexican model of government = alliance b/w
dominant party and development-oriented state
• Transforming from corporatist state to
democratic one
• Upper-middle-income developing country
Current Economics of Mexico
GDP:
- Industry = 32.9%
- Service Sector = 62.8%
- Agriculture = 4%
Mexico oil rich- government owned petroleum
industry
State Capitalism- gov. action to encourage private investment and reduce risks for
entrepreneurs
1. Import substitution Industrialization (ISI) 1940-1982
- domestic manufacturing of previously imported goods
to meet market demand
- agrarian reform – develop private agriculture as foundation of industrial
greatness
a. Food for cities, raw materials for industry
b. Transportation networks, irrigation projects, agriculture storage
facilities
c. Most assistance to large landowners
d. invested in research
e. Imports of technology
Large, commercially oriented farmers emerged to dominate ag. economy
Green
Revolution
2. Rise of domestic entrepreneurs in Mexico
- protected by high tariffs and special licensing requirements = limits imports
- subsidized credit to invest in equipment and plants
- rarely paid taxes
Powerful players in politics
3. Labor Unions
- widespread unionization
- dependent on gov for benefits and protection
- limited right to strike
- membership + job security, housing benefits, and health care = compensation
for lack of dem.
Confederation of Mexican Workers
Peasant organizations
Main cogs in PRI corporatist machine
Additional organizations: railroads, electrical, telecommunications, journalist,
photographers
- quasi-official organization
- solidified PRI support
a. Provided tangible benefits
b. “causal arrow” running “downward” from state to society
c. Base for PRI to recruit grassroots leaders
4. Those left behind
a. peasant farmers
- farming in ejido communities was difficult
b. Urban poor
- growth of informal sector
c. Income disparities among urban and rural poor
- rural guerilla movements and student protest
Limits on domestic
markets
No longer able to meet
Domestic demand for
Basic food = imports
Sowing the Oil and Reaping a Crisis (1970s)
- Gov increased investment in infrastructure and public industries, regulated foreign
Investment, and increased social spending
- spent more than they were bringing in
- 1978-1982 Mexico became major oil exporter
a. President Portillo policy to “sow the oil” into economy
b. 4/5 of economy from oil
Oil prices up
Economy up
Global economy
-
PRI borrowed very little pre-1970: Total debt of $6 billion
1976 = $26 Billion
1982 = $80 Billion
1987 = $107 Billion
Became one of the most indebted countries in the world = 16% of GNP in 1970
70% in 1987
The Crisis
- economic strategy based on continued high oil prices
- 1979-1981 oil revenue from $3.9 B to $14.5B; 75% of exports and 45% of revenue
- 1981 oil prices dropped and by 1982 on brink of collapse
- inflation topped out at 159% in 1987; exchange rate 1,460 peso to $1US
Structural Reforms and NAFTA
•
•
•
•
Free market policies put in place
Deregulation
Devolution in the federal system
NAFTA- What it means for Mexico?
Congress
Chamber of
Deputies
Executive
Senate
President
and Cabinet
Judiciary
Supreme
Court
1. The Principle of Non-reelection (all levels of government)
- What it means for the President?
a. New President working with inexperienced Congress and state level
officeholders
b. Appoints all key bureaucratic and judicial positions = whole new team
with new policy directions
c. “Mexico avoids a dictatorship by retiring their dictators every 6 years”
2. Formal powers- initiate legislation, issue decrees, transfer funds, authorize
expenditures
3. Real source of power in informal powers
a. Patronage is key; PRI created broad support; all active in PRI: all
with experience
4. Changes
a. 1999 Pres. Zedillo did not choose his successor
b. PRI began using primaries to select candidate
5. PAN (National Action Party) to Executive with Vicente Fox
a. Fox’s big problem in government
Chamber of Deputies
- Lower House
PRI = 49 + 164 = 213 seats
PAN = 62 + 52 = 114
PRD = 42 + 58 = 100
PVEM = 15 + 13 = 28
PT = 10 + 5 = 15
PNA = 10 + 0 = 10
CM = 12 + 8 = 20
500 Seats
- 317 men; 183 women
- 300 majority deputies are elected by plurality
- 200 “party deputies” appointed through rules of proportional representation
- 1 deputy for every 200,000 people
- renewed every 3 years (Mid-term elections)
Senate of Mexico
- Upper House
128 Seats; 86 men; 42 women
- 2 seats for each of 31 states and Federal District
- 1 seat for 31 states and FD to 2nd place party
- 32 at large based on share of national vote
- renewed every 6 years
Weakest branch of government
Federal Court System:
Supreme Court
- Nominated by Pres; approved by Senate
- Circuit Courts
- cases on appeal
- District Courts
State Court System
- subordinate to Fed Courts
Partido Verde
Ecologista Mexicana
New Alliance Party
Partido del Trabajo
PRI VOTER = rural area; small town, low education level, older and poorer than
those voting for other parties
PAN VOTER = Northern state, urban, middle-class professional, high school or
college education
PRD VOTER = young, political activist, elementary/high school education, central
states, small town or urban
PRI will need to increase support in urban areas and among young voters to stay
competitive
Presidential elections are “first past the post”
Pressure for elections to be fair
1. The Bureaucracy
a. 1.5 million working in fed. Bureaucracy
b. low level officials are unionized and protected by legislation = job security and
benefits
c. “confidence employees”- middle and upper level; serve as long as boss has
confidence in them
1. appointed by superiors at start of new administration; modest salary, but
lots of power
2. The Parastatal Sector
a. semiautonomous and autonomous
agencies producing goods and services
b. 1982 = 1,155 parastatal organizations;
1994 = 215
3. The Military
a. Generally operates outside politics
b. heavily involved in combating drug trafficking
c. transfer from PRI to PAN sign of military subordination to civilian control
4. Subnational Government (State and Local)
a. Mexican Federal System = each state has a constitution, executive,
unicameral legislature, and judiciary
b. little money and lack of experience
c. 1988 = all state governors PRI; 2011 = 11 states and Federal District non-PRI
1. President and Bureaucracy are focal point of policy and management
2. Since 1997, Congress become more actively involved
a. Presidents skills of negotiation, managing the opposition, using the media,
and the bureaucracy are now key
3. Limits on presidential power = policy implementation
a. Low level officials disagree or make deals or lack the skill to implement
policy
1. Role of media and public opinion more important now than ever
a. several major tv networks; access to CNN
b. expanding # of newspapers and circulation
c. new magazines
d. wider range of opinions today
1. Accommodation
a. group (interest group) expresses concern for policy or program and gov.
accommodates (State Capitalism)
b. PRI loss of power
c. emergence of indigenous groups
1. Ongoing process of change in Mexico towards democracy
a. moving from authoritarianism and control to liberal democracy and
capitalism
1. Concerns about division of power between parties and branches of gov
2. Sept. 1 “Day of the President”
3. Vicente Fox brought transparency to Mexican government
a. Appointed human rights activists to cabinet
b. ordered secret police and military files be opened to public
c. gov ministries ordered to supply more info about activities and services
available to citizens
d. UN opened human rights office
The Economy:
1. Large gap b/w rich and poor
2. rapid, unplanned urbanization
3. borrowing against high oil prices of the 1970s led to massive foreign
debt
Reforms:
1. sharp cuts in government spending
2. debt reduction
3. Opportunidades- anti-poverty program that gives free benefits and jobs
to those without formal jobs
2. Foreign Policy
a. Historically bilateral
b. Continues to assert itself at UN and
WTO
c. Drug Trafficking
1. Campaign to root out corruption has led to
increase in violence
2. brutal murders of police
3. cartels competing to control distribution to
the US
d. Immigration Policy
1. supports amnesty and guest worker
program
2. denounce border fence
3. Ethnic Rebellions
a. Zapatistas- protested NAFTA by capturing
four towns
1. see NAFTA as exploitation of Amerindians
to benefit PRI
2. growing movement in the South