CGAP - Mexico

Mexico

• Capital: Mexico City

• Language: Spanish w/many indigenous varieties

• Population: 127.6 million (2019)

• Size: About 3x the size of Texas

• World’s ninth largest economy and eighth biggest producer of oil

Mexico System

Federal and a Presidential Republic

1980s Mexico settled into neoliberalism

calls for free markets, balanced budgets, privatization, free trade, & limited gov’t intervention in economy

Felipe Calderon

• Drug trafficking and violence associated with it have dominated since 2006

Mexico City Olympics

provided media spotlight on students who demanded political liberalization

Mexico’s foreign policy

• more assertive & independent of U.S.

• Developed reputation as champion of free trade

• Good relations w/rest of Latin Amer.

Tlatelolco massacre

• thousands of high school and college students protesting peacefully in mexico City 10 days before Olympic Games

• Meant to be a show of solidarity with labor unions and farmer and a protest against government action trying to control the economy

• Gov’t crackdown caused deaths of as many as 500 students by army

Portillo (prez from 1976-1982)

economy in trouble encouraged Portillo to follow more liberal line in domestic politics & economic policy

Head of gov’t and state

President Claudia Sheinbaum (Morena)

Series of electoral reform encouraged rise of opposition parties

• PRI lost majority in lower house and 2000 lost majority in Senate as well as presidency

Mexico Today

• healthy multiparty democracy & prez has been unable to manipulate gov’t (doesn’t mean there isn’t corruption)

• Inefficient state-owned monopolies replaced by privately owned businesses

Oil Crisis (1976-1982)

After Cárdenas, Mexico’s econ. & pol. development paved way for steady growth until 1968

1986 - 1994

• member of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade)

• member of NAFTA

• member of OECD (Org. for Economic Cooperation & Dev.) lib

• Drug trafficking on the rise

Peso collapsed (1994)

to which Clinton responded with $50 billion international rescue package of loan guarantees to help Mexico avoid defaulting on debt

Unrest in southern states

• esp. Chiapas, which rebelled in 1994

• denounced NAFTA, felt that they were cheated out of land & were being denied basic services

tecnicos

New generation of educated, business-oriented leaders appeared to take control of gov’t and PRI with moderate, free-market approach to politics

Religion

Predominantly Catholic (82%)

Pendulum Theory

• back-and-forth effect in policy

• Socialist reform to free-market economic development and back again

• Each president following Cárdenas either used Cárdenas as a model or chose opposite direction

• As Mexico reached 1970s, pendulum appeared to stop

State Corporatism

• Inclusion of various groups in policymaking

• Emphasis on integrating groups into a government-controlled system

• Organizations resemble interest groups but were created to keep the PRI in power

Mexico is full of paradoxes

wealth, urban and modern yet also poor, rural and traditional

Few religious or ethnic problems

• 60% mestizo (Amerindian and Spanish), 30% pure native American, 9% pure white

• Most of areas far away from Mexico City remain pure native populations

• Less direct racism & discrimination than in US

Agitation for independence in early 19^th cent

• Native population fell from 11 million to 6 million

• Elaborate social hierarchy with Spanish-born on top & natives at bottom

• Struggle between peninsulares (Spanish administrators) & Mexicans of Spanish descent (criollos) and mestizos

Mexico won independence in 1821

• tried to build its own empire in central America

• But economy weak and power struggles b/t liberals who wanted democratic federal system and conservative who wanted a more centralized system (monarchy)

30 presidents in the first 50 years of independence

revolution, rigged elections, and rapid changes in leadership

Conflicts w/U.S., esp. w/Texas

by 1855 Mexico had lost 50% of its territory to US

Partido Revolucionario Institucional

• Power of traditional rural landowners undercut

• Catholic Church influence curtailed (anticlericalism)

• Power of foreign investors limited (had owned lots of land)

• New political elite agreed to bargain & accommodate instead of using violence

• Strong central government

Lazaro Cárdenas

• more influential – most left-wing president (1934-1940)

• Redistributed land (ejidos - collective) more than 7 predecessors combined, supported unions, & most importantly, launched nationalization program

• 1938 – created Pemex

• Gov’t built roads, provided electricity, & created public services that modernized Mexico (infrastructure and safety net)

• Stabilized the presidency & peacefully let go of his power when his sexenio was up

Conflicts w/Eur, esp. w/Napoleon III

made Mexico a French dependent

National Rev. Party

• Brought caudillos together under 1 big political party & this was intended to bring stability through agreement to “pass around” power from 1 leader to next for 6-yr. period (SEXENIO)

• Other leaders would be given major positions in gov’t to establish their influence

• Party went on to govern Mexico for the rest of the century

• Changed its name to PRI in 1945, (Partido Revolucionario Institucional)

Accommodation

Amerindian

Amparo

1924 - 1940

• Stabilizing the Rev. but period of warlordism

Benito Juarez (1867)

• became president when emperor under French rule was executed

• Promoted strong civil liberties, regular elections, reductions in power of church, & expanded public education

Bracero Program

Felipe Calderón

Camarilla

• Patron-client system in Mexico

• Used extensively in PRI years and continues to be used today due to corruption

Campesinos

Plutarco Calles

• created National Rev. Party in 1929

Chamber of Deputies

Chiapas Rebellion

rebels still control state but Marcos marched to Mexico City

Científicos

group of young advisors that believed in bringing scientific & economic progress to Mexico

Civil War

• 1913 – Madero murdered in U.S.-sponsored coup by Victoriano Huerta

• Brief & violent civil war broke out w/3 groups against Huerta

  • Peasant army led by Emiliano Zapata

  • Workers and cattlemen led by Pancho Villa

  • Ranchers & businessmen led by Venustiano Carranza

• Carranza in control by 1915 and Villa and Zapata both eventually assassinated

Growing gap between rich & poor

• elite led lavish lifestyles but majority remained poor

• Peasants lost land & forced to become laborers

• Middle class excluded from power

Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM)

Constitution of 1917

• has been base of Mex. gov’t ever since

• Separation of powers, federalism, Bill of Rights - reminiscent of U.S. system

• But gave state control over natural resources & federal gov’t the right to redistribute land

Corporatism

Co-optation

during PRI years, when citizen demands got out of hand, gov’t responded by not only accommodating but by including them in the political process

Creole – criollo

Cuauhtemoc Cardenas

1980s Debt Crisis

• Mex’s econ. in trouble – expensive oil exploration program found vast new oil resources

• Heavy investments made in transport, industry, education, healthcare, communications & jobs created

• Spending caused inflation & encouraged more imports than exports

• Price of oil began to fall & Mexico borrowed to cover spending, building large national debt

• nearly defaulted on debt so moved to more open & competitive free-market system instead of centralized econ. Management

Dedazo

Dependency

Dinosaurs

Drug Wars

Economic Nationalism

Ejido

Election 2000 – Significance

Election 2006 – Issues

Election 2012 - Significance

Emiliano Zapata

led Peasant army during Civil War

Enrique Peña Nieto

Ernesto Zedillo

EZLN – Zapatistas

• led by Subcomandante Marcos seized towns – army put down, 150 deaths, peace agreement signed

• always wears mask and pipe

Federal District – Mexico City

Francisco Madero

1^st leader of rev.

Grupos

Import substitution industrialization

INE (National Electoral Institute) – formerly the IFE

Lázaro Cardenas

Machismo

Maquiladores

Mestizo

“Mexican Miracle”

Mexican Revolution (1910-1917)

• Rev. came from middle and upper classes (like Russian Rev.)

• Seeking to end influence of foreign capitalists and open up opportunities for themselves

• Many describe this Rev as the 1^st great social rev of 20^th cent. but Mexico’s condition today allows one to argue that goals of rev. haven’t been met yet & that it continues

Miguel de la Madrid

MORENA (National Regeneration Movement)

• Left-wing party founded by AMLO (who left PRD)

• Left the PRD because of in-fighting, corruption, and political compromises

• Elimination of monopolies to increase competition

• Support comes from rural and urban working class, and discontented middle class

• Nationalist

• “Seeks the democratic transformation of the country: a political, economic, social, and cultural change. This will be achieved by introducing ethical principles to our movement and defending human rights, liberty, justice, & dignity of all.”

• 2018 - won the presidency & took over as dominant party in Congress, forming gov’t with Labor Party & Social Encounter Party under the “Together we will make history” alliance

NAFTA

Nonreelection

• Principle preventing re-election of public officials, especially the president

• Rooted in the Mexican Revolution as a reaction to Porfirio Díaz’s long rule

• Mexican Constitution (Article 83) - President serves one six-year term (sexenio), no re-election

• Recent reforms allow some legislators and municipal officials to seek re-election

Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador

Organization of American States (OAS)

PAN (National Action Party)

• Base of support from urban middle class

• Moderate right-wing party

• Played role of loyal opposition until 1990s

• Policies are pro-clerical (Church), pro-American, and pro-business, favor limited gov’t role in economy and promotion of private land ownership

• Pro-free trade, reduction in taxes, reform welfare state

• Strongest in urban areas of wealthier northern and central state but long seen as party of wealthy & drew little support from peasants & workers

• Haven’t won since 2006 election - people frustrated with how it dealt with drug traffickers

Pancho Villa

led Workers and cattlemen in Civil War

Para-statal

Patron-Client system

PEMEX

state oil corporation (Petroleos Mexicanos), upsetting US, which boycotted oil

Political Centralism

each level of gov’t is weaker and less autonomous than one above it

Políticos

Porfirio Diaz (1876 –1910) – characteristics of the Porfiriato

• Military gov’t of Porfirio Diaz

• Political stability, economic expansion, national income, foreign investment & trade all grew

• But political freedoms ended – no free elections or free speech

• Brought with him the científicos

• Diaz announced he would step down but then refused: rebellion broke out – he was defeated and exiled in 1911

Presidentialism (presidencialismo)

• Coined term to describe mexico’s president’s “dominance” 

  • Most of the power lies in her hands

  • President cannot blame anyone else for something

PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution)

• Base of support comes from Mexico City and poorer states in the South

• Supports economic nationalism & opposes free trade and privatization

• Major opposition party on the left

• Cardenas family associated with this party (remember Lazaro Cardenas was the first leftist PRI leader)

• 1997-2018 - PRD Held the office of Mayor of Mexico City

PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party)

• Base of support comes from peasants, urban workers, & military - sees itself as centrist

• 2 features of party - no obvious ideology and political centralism (parallel to democratic centralism)

• Pendulum theory

• Swung back and forth from conservatives (dinosaurs) to progressive (democratic)

• Politics during PRI years were not so much about competition among parties but among factions within PRI

• Political Centralism

• Even who ran for office was chosen at higher levels in party

• PRI used local bosses to mobilize peasants & workers to vote for PRI

PVEM (Mexican Ecological Green Party)

• Defines itself as a citizen’s environmental organization committed to “respect all forms of life and the promotion of sustainable development”

Sexenio

term of office on the President of Mexico, president is limited to a single six-year term

Structural Adjustment Programs (neoliberalism)

Técnicos

The “New Class”

USMCA

Vicente Fox

• election in 2000 – first non-PRI president in 7 decades

• But Fox found it difficult to bring about changes he had promised

• He & his team lacked experience

• New structural factors limited his ability to secure approval so was unable to overcome opposition

• Since domestic agenda was stalled, he decided to concentrate on foreign policy, esp. building strong relationship with the U.S.

• Nationalism & Immigration issues remain important factors in Mexican politics

WTO