Chapter 10: The United Mexican States

Mexico

Mexico

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

Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)

the party that ruled Mexico continuously from 1929 through 2000, now one of a few major parties competing for power in Mexico; it espouses centrist to center-right ideological positions

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.

Catholicism

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

Patron-Clientelism

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.

Tramites

minor regulations added to law codes by bureaucratic agencies to ensure competence in the execution of the law by bureaucratic officials; they have often been criticized as cumbersome and unnecessary

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.

Camarillas

in Mexico, informal personal networks around political leaders or aspiring public officials used for the advancement of their careers

Caudillo

a personalist leader wielding military or political power; used interchangeably with the term “dictator” or “strongman” in Mexican politics

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

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

Porfiriato

the period of rule under Porfirio Diaz (1876–1911), characterized by authoritarianism, stability, and economic reforms resulting in rising inequality

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.

Sexenio

the single nonrenewable six-year term of the president of Mexico

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.

Haciendas

privately owned land that the Cardenas government seized and redistributed to peasants in the form of ejido land grants

Ejidos

agricultural collective land grants given to peasants by the Cardenas government

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.

PEMEX

Mexico’s state-owned national oil exploration and refining company

Import substitution industrialization (ISI)

an economic policy program intended to replace goods that are imported with domestically manufactured goods, usually through trade limitations and tariffs combined with subsidies or preferential regulations for domestic companies

President Miguel Aleman

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

Politicos

PRI officials who led bureaucratic agencies as a result of their political connections rather than their technical expertise

Technicos

PRI officials who were placed in positions in bureaucratic agencies because of their education and technical expertise

“Mexican Miracle”

high GDP growth that was sustained for much of the period from the 1940s through the 1970s as a result of high energy prices and economic reforms

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

an organization of countries that raises money through contributions from member states and assists countries with particularly problematic debt situations, usually by prescribing neoliberal economic reforms attached to the assistance money

Structural adjustment program

a program of neoliberal economic reforms imposed by the International Monetary Fund to help countries balance the budget and get out of debt by such means as reducing government spending, privatizing state-owned national monopolies, and liberalizing trade

Federal Election Institute (IFE)

an independent regulatory agency created in 1994 to increase the fairness and competitiveness of Mexico’s elections; later reformed to the National Electoral Institute (INE)

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

a free-trade agreement enacted in 1994 that involves the United States, Canada, and Mexico

Telmex

formerly a state-owned telephone monopoly, privatized in 1990, and still Mexico’s largest provider of telephone service

National Action Party (PAN)

founded as a right-wing opposition party to PRI rule, it won power for the first time in 2000 and is one of a few major parties competing for power in Mexico today

Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD)

founded as a left-wing opposition party against the PRI; currently one of a few major parties competing for power in Mexico

National Electoral Institute (INE)

an autonomous government agency empowered to organize and implement Mexico’s elections to ensure fairness and competitiveness

Maquiladoras

factories in Mexico that are largely owned by foreign multinational corporations

Mestizo

the largest single ethnic group in Mexico, formed during the colonial period by the mixture of European Spaniards and the indigenous Amerindian population

Zapatista Movement (EZLN)

a left-wing revolutionary group based in the southern state of Chiapas and made up mostly of indigenous people

Coinciding cleavages

social divisions that tend to run in the same direction, dividing societies along the same fault line repeatedly and creating more intense political conflict between groups

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.

Tlateloco Plaza Massacre

a crackdown against anti-government protesters in 1968 that resulted in the deaths of up to 300 demonstrators and the arrest of thousands more

2006 Election

The 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.

Televisa

Mexico’s most watched television network and largest media conglomerate; it was accused of covering then-candidate Enrique Peña Nieto favorably during the 2012 election cycle in an attempt to help the PRI win power again

Dominant-party system

a party system in which one party consistently controls the government, though other parties may also exist and run

Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM)

a workers’ union that served as a major piece of the PRI’s state-corporatist network during PRI rule; now ostensibly independent, it still maintains deep ties to the politics of the PRI

Opportunidades

welfare payments made to targeted impoverished groups, such as poor single mothers, providing cash payment in exchange for the family or individual meeting certain goals, such as educational attainment, set by the government

Parastatals

large state-owned enterprises that operate as independent businesses

“War on drugs”

in Mexico, military campaigns against violent drug cartels that have been ongoing since 2006

Remittances

payments sent to Mexico from workers who are earning wages abroad, mostly from the United States