Chapter 10: The United Mexican States

Mexico

is a federal republic, borne out of two major revolutions.

Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)

came to control every aspect of the political process for most of the twentieth century.

Populism and Celebration of Revolution

Ordinary Mexicans stood up against powerful elites in Mexico’s major nineteenth- and twentieth-century revolutions, and charismatic leaders led popular movements to revolutionary victory.

Authoritarianism

While seemingly contradictory to populism, Mexico has a long tradition of authoritarianism running from Spanish colonial rule, through the military rulers of the nineteenth century, and up to the PRI bosses of the twentieth century.

Catholiscism

Spanish colonization built society in Mexico with the Catholic mission as the center of daily life and political organization.

Patron-Clientilism

The regional divides of Mexican politics were brought together among top elites through a favor-trading system of quid pro quo, which benefited everyone at the top mutually.

Spanish Language

Mexicans are united by near universal use of the Spanish language.

Hernan Cortes

the first Spanish conquistador in Mexico, conquered Tenochtitlan and ruled the Aztecs.

Father Miguel Hidalgo

a Spanish priest, organized 90,000 poor indigenous farmers to fight the Spanish army for the right to grow crops prohibited by law to protect Spanish imports.

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

who served as president ten times, usually left office after a few months to fight.

President Porfirio Diaz (1876–1911)

ended the instability.

Stability

The fighting among camarillas came to a close, and there was not another internal revolution until 1910–1911.

Economic growth

Diaz centralized control over all decision making in the Mexican economy, and invited foreign investment to develop Mexican industry, particularly mining.

Inequality

Massive economic growth came at a high cost.

Lazaro Cárdenas'

1934–1940 presidency was the PRI's most eventful.

Land Reform

Cárdenas used new powers of the state in the constitution to acquire large commercial tracts of land (called haciendas) previously controlled by private landowners, and converted them into agricultural collectives (called ejidos) in which the peasants would cease paying rents to the landowners, and would have rights to keep the proceeds of selling the crops, provided they did not fail to use the land for more than two years.

Labor reform

Cárdenas’s administration encouraged the formation of peasant and workers’ unions, and strictly enforced Article 123 of the Constitution that guaranteed an eight-hour work day and other rights of workers.

Nationalization

Foreign businesses that had been in operation in Mexico since Diaz were forced to leave the country, and their property was expropriated.

President Miguel Aleman

reversed Cárdenas's ejido system and ISI, encouraging entrepreneurship and reviving foreign investment in Mexico.

Urban Mexicans

earn more and are more literate.

Rural voters

seem more interested in short-term gain, and the PRI's ability to curry favors from the patron-client network seems to keep them loyal.

Urban voters

are more likely to support major reforms to remove the PRI's patron-client power base, even if their candidate can't bring federal dollars to their city.

Tlateloco Plaza

Just before Mexico’s hosting of the 1968 Summer Olympics, farmers and workers unions frustrated with the government’s lack of attention to their plight organized a number of highly visible rallies.

2006 election

was the closest in Mexico’s history, with PAN candidate Felipe Calderón defeating PRD candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador by only about 250,000 votes (just over 0.5 percent of the total).

YO SOY \#132

Many Mexicans believed Televisa, the largest media company in Mexico, heavily biased its coverage in favor of PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto in the 2012 election.

Voters

also elect deputies to state congresses, and local officials such as mayors.

CTM

used its position in the PRI establishment to improve workers' living conditions, but the collapse of oil prices and the IMF's austerity reduced the union's power, especially as PRI administrations negotiated and signed free-trade agreements.

Enrique Peña Nieto's

PRI led in seats after 2012.

Code law

governs Mexico.

Congress or the president

enacts detailed legal codes to answer most legal questions.

Constitution

prohibits military authorities from performing “any functions other than those that are directly connected with military affairs” to limit their political power.