AP Comparative Government Mexico

Mestizo

A person of mixed white, indigenous (Amerindian), and sometimes African descent.

Amerindian

Original peoples of North and South America; indigenous people.

Indigenous Groups

Population of Amerindian heritage in Mexico.

Maquiladoras

Factories that produce goods for export, often located along the US-Mexican border.

Coup D'etat

A forceful, extra-constitutional action resulting in the removal of an existing government.

Anticlericalism

Opposition to the power of churches or clergy in politics. In some countries, for example, France and Mexico, this opposition has focused on the role of the Catholic Church in politics.

Ejidos

Land granted by Mexican government to an organized group of peasants.

Ejidatarios

Recipient of ejido land grant in Mexico.

Sexenio

The six-year administration of Mexican presidents.

Clientelism

An informal aspect of policymaking in which a powerful patron (for example, a traditional local boss, government agency, or dominant party) offers resources such as land, contracts, protection, or jobs in return for the support and services (such as labor or votes) of lower-status and less powerful clients; corruption, preferential treatment, and inequality are characteristic of clientelist politics.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

A treaty among the US, Mexico, and Canada implemented on January 1, 1994, that largely eliminates trade barriers among the three nations and establishes procedures to resolve trade disputes. NAFTA serves as a model for an eventual Free Trade Area of the Americas zone that could include most Western Hemisphere nations.

Corporatist State

A state in which interest groups become an institutionalized part of the structure.

Civil Society

Refers to the space occupied by voluntary associations outside the state, for example, professional associations (lawyers, doctors, teacher), trade unions, student and women's groups, religious bodies, and other voluntary association groups. The term is similar to society, although civil society implies a degree of organization absent from the more inclusive term society.

State Capitalism

A political system in which the state requires all members of a particular economic sector to join an officially designated interest group. Such interest groups thus attain public status, and they participate in national policymaking. The result is that the state has great control over the groups, and groups have great control over their members.

Import Substituting Industrialization (ISI)

Strategy for industrialization based on domestic manufacture of previously imported goods to satisfy domestic market demands.

Informal Sector

That portion of the economy largely outside government control in which local traditional rulers and political structures were used to help support the colonial governing structure.

Proportional Representation

A system of political representation in which seats are allocated to parties within multi-member constituencies, roughly in proportion to the votes each party receives. PR usually encourages the election to parliament of more political parties than single-member-district winner-take-all systems.

Technocrats

Career-minded bureaucrats who administer public policy according to a technical rather than political rationale. In Mexico and Brazil, these are known as the tecnicos.

Para-Statal

State-owned, or at least state-controlled, corporations, created to undertake a broad range of activities, from control and marketing of agricultural production to provision of banking services, operation of airlines, and other transportation facilities and public utilities.

Accommodation

An informal agreement or settlement between the government and important interest groups in response to the interest groups' concerns for policy or program benefits.

Co-Optation

Incorporating activists into the system while accommodating some of their concerns.

Felipe Calderon

Mexico's current president. Elected in 2006.

Camarillas

Vast informal networks of personal royalty that operates as powerful political cliques.

Chamber of Deputies, Senate

The lower house of Mexico's legislature.

Cuauhtemoc Cardenas

The Aztec military leader defeated by the Spanish conquerors.

Lazaro Cardenas

President of Mexico from 1935-1940. Responsible for redistribution of land, primarily to create edijos, or communal farms. Began program of primary and rural education.

Caudillos

National military strongmen. Dominated Mexican politics in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Chiapas Rebellion

Southern Mexican state which had large groups of Native Americans, where rebels took up arms and challenged the government, demanding land reform.

Neo-Corporatism

A structure in which business, labor, and state engage in bargaining over economic policies.

Cristeros Rebellion

Priests around the country led a rebellion int he 1920s against new laws against the rights of churches and priests. One of the bloodiest conflicts in Mexican history.

Dependency

A model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of the historical exploration of poor nations by rich ones.

Porfirio Diaz

A Mexican dictator who ruled from 1876 to 1910. Disposed by the Mexican Revolution.

Election Reform

Campaign finance restrictions. Laws that limit contributions to campaigns. Critical media coverage, as media is less under PRI control. International watch teams, as Mexico has tried to convince other countries that elections are fair and competitive. Election monitoring by opposition party members.

EZLN

Zapatista Army of National Liberation. A largely Mayan group that staged an uprising in 1994. Demanded political reform and greater rights for Mexico's indigenous people.

Father Hidalgo

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Federal Election Commission

An independent regulatory body to safeguard honest and accurate election results.

Vicente Fox

Mexico's president since 2000. The first non-PRI president in over seven decades.

GATT

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. International trade organization that encourages free trade by lowering tariffs and other trade restrictions.

GNP per capita

Gross National Product. The sum of all goods and services produced in a nation in a year.

HDI

Indicator of level of development for each country. Constructed by the United Nations, combining income, literacy, education, and life expectancy.

IFE

Organizing elections of the president and the Congress of the Union. Registering voters and parties. Giving all parties access to the media. Setting the ceiling for campaign expenditures. Allocating public funds fr campaigns. Recruiting and training citizens to run polling places. Confirming the electoral results.

Import Substitution

A government policy that uses trade restrictions and subsidies to encourage domestic production of manufactured goods.

Benito Juarez

Mexican national hero. President from 1961-1867. Brought liberal reforms to Mexico, including separation of church and state, land distribution to the poor, and an educational system for all of Mexico.

"Mexican Miracle"

Described a country with a rapidly increasing GNP in orderly transition from an authoritarian to a democratic government.

Neoliberalism

A political orientation origination in the 1960s. A strategy for economic development that calls for free markets, balanced budgets, privatization, free trade, and minimal government intervention in the economy.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

AMLO. El Peje. Mexican politician who held the position of Head of Government of the Federal District from 2000 to 2005. In the 2006 election, he represented the Coalition for the Good of All.

Para-Statals

Industry partially owned by the state.

Patron-Client System

Powerful government officials deliver state servicing policies and access to power in exchange for the delivery of political support.

PEMEX

Mexico's powerful state-owned oil monopoly.

Pendulum Theory

Back and forth effect between socialist reform and free-market economic development. Swings in politics between left and right.

Plurality

The theory that all interests are and should be free to compete for influence in the government. Outcome of this competition is compromise and moderation.

Systems

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Politicos

Expertise lies in the party, law, and political science. Old style politicians in Mexico. Tell you what you want to hear. PRI.

Porfiriato

Period of rule by Porfirio Diaz. Rich getting richer. Poor getting poorer. Influences of the Porfiriato are: stability, authoritarianism, foreign investment and economic growth, and growing gap between the rich and the poor.

PAN

National Action Party. A conservative Catholic Mexican political party that until 2000 was the main opposition to the PRI.

PPP

Purchasing Power Parity. Evens exchange rates between currencies. Compares goods to other countries' goods.

PRD

Party of the Democratic Revolution. Mexico's main left-of-center opposition party.

PRI

Intended to stabilize political power in the hands of its leaders. Served as an important source of government legitimacy until other political parties successfully challenged its monopoly during the late 20th century.

Santa Anna

Mexican dictator who was in charge when war broke out between the Mexicans and Americans. He lost Texas to rebels, and was the leader of the armed forces during the war.

Pancho Villa

A Northern Mexican peasant leader of the Revolution who, together with Emiliano Zapata, advocated a more radical socio-economic agenda.

WTO

The World Trade Organization. An international body that enforces agreements that reduce barriers to international trade. Successor to the GATT.

Zapatistas

Guerilla movement named in honor of Emiliano Zapata; originated in 1994 in Mexico's Southern state of Chiapas. Government responded with a combination of repression and negotiation.