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MEXICO

MEXICO. Politics and Government of Latin America University of British Columbia March 18th, 2010. Go Global: International Learning Programs. International Service Learning (ISL) engages students in meaningful projects led by community partners around the world.

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MEXICO

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  1. MEXICO Politics and Government of LatinAmerica University of British Columbia March 18th, 2010

  2. Go Global: International LearningPrograms • International Service Learning (ISL) engages students in meaningful projects led by community partners around the world. • Students learn about global issues first-hand by working on community based projects, and through pre-departure learning sessions and facilitated reflection. • The themes for January 2011 ISL programs are: • 1. Combatting HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases (Uganda and Swaziland) • 2. Achieving universal primary education (Uganda) • 3. Impact of tourism on environmental sustainability (Costa Rica) • The application deadline for these January 2011 placements is March 21, 2010. • ISL participants can participate in group fundraising to offset the costs of the program; eligible students may also obtain an addition $1500 in awards. • To learn more about our programs, students can attend a Go Global info session or speak to an ISL advisor: • Breanne Ringheim: gg.assistant@ubc.ca

  3. Introduction: Basic Facts • Population: 110 million (2008 est.) • Territory: 1,923,040 sq km (slightly less than three times the size of Texas; slightly more than twice the size of British Columbia) • Gini Index: 0.479 • Economic Growth: 2-3% • GDP (ppp): $1,578 trillion (2008 est.) • GDP per capita (ppp): $14, 119 (2008 est.) • Poverty rate: CEPAL estimated that 37 million Mexicans (almost 35% of the population) were now living beneath the poverty line (eating hand-to-mouth), while about 12 million were indigent (not eating much at all).

  4. Challenges for the 21st Century • Economy: “The need was not only to regain investment and stimulate growth, as occurred in 1996 and 1997. It was also to alleviate problems of poverty and inequality” (Skidmore and Smith, p. 257). • Rule of law: “Soon after taking office, Zedillo received a confidential report which warned that ‘the power of the drug-trafficking organizations could lead to situations of ungovernability’” (Skidmore and Smith, p. 257). • Democratic transition: “It was less clear where the country was heading. One possible outcome was a multi-party democratic system. Another was an authoritarian backlash. Yet another was a combination of the two, where democratic practices and authoritarian fiefdoms might coexist in a delicate balance. But the most pervasive fact was uncertainty” (Skidmore and Smith, p. 258).

  5. HISTORICAL ARGUMENT • Consolidation of the State as the consolidation of the ruling elite. • Social fragmentation: wide territory, high levels of socioeconomic inequality. • “So far from God and so close to the US.”

  6. After Independence (1821): Rise of Caudillos • “[Many veterans of the War of Independence] drifted into unofficial, quasi-military units that provided support for local political bosses, generally known as caudillos, who were soon to play a dominant role in the Mexican political scene” (218). • 1821-1860: fifty separate presidencies. • Poverty among the peasantry in large rural areas. • Church: half of the nation’s land. • Expulsion of Spaniards. Rise of creole elites: landowners vs. urban bourgeoisie.

  7. Antonio López de Santa Anna and the War with the United States • Independence of Texas (1835-1845) • American troops sent to the border, later to Veracruz and finally to Mexico City. Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo: from Texas to California ($15 million) - 1848 • Replenishing the treasury: New Mexico and Arizona ($10 million) - 1855

  8. Benito Juárez and the War of the Reform (1858-1861) • Liberal institutions (civil ceremonies) • Secularization (redistribution of Church property) • Agrarian reform (ejido); Large landowners benefit from the reform. Can liberal democracies represent the interests of indigenous peoples?

  9. Maximilian von Hapsburg and the French Invasion (1864) • Moratorium on foreign debt. Napoleon III launches a war of occupation. • Maximilian: Liberal emperor of Mexico brought by the conservatives.

  10. Print first published in Harper’s Weekly (August 10, 1867)

  11. Porfirío Díaz and the Consolidation of State Power • No re-election: “Sufragio efectivo, no reelección” • Modernization of the country: economic liberalism; scientific politics; investment in infrastructure. • Monopoly of violence • More than 30 years in power: personalismoor “I am the State”.

  12. The Mexican Revolution • Madero (elite fragmentation) • Huerta (military takeover) • Zapata (peasant revolt) • Villa (mercenary army) • Carranza (constitutionalists)

  13. The 1917 Constitution • “In a December (1914) statement Carranza began to edge leftward. He promised, without details, ‘legislation for the improvement of the condition of the rural peon, the worker, the miner, and in general the proletarian classes’” (p. 231). • The Constitution of 1917: The most progressive constitution of its time.

  14. The Birth of a One-Party System or “institutionalizing the Revolution” • The legitimating discourse of a social revolution • Indigenismo and forced assimilation • Obregón: • US Recognition • Cooptation of labour (CROM) • Peaceful transfer of power to his successor. • Elías Calles and the Maximato(1928-1934) • PartidoNacionalRevolucionario (PNR)

  15. Lázaro Cárdenas: the Populist Move • Agrarian reform • Oil expropriation (PEMEX) • Partido de la Revolución Mexicana (PRM) “built around four functional groups: the agricultural (peasant) sector, the labor sector, the military sector, and the “popular” sector” (235). • Two major objectives were achieved by this time: civilian control over the military, and a rock-solid political stability.

  16. Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) • PNR – PRM – PRI • Thegoldenyears: 1940s-1970s: • ISI period. The Mexican Miracle. Braceros Program. Sticks and carrots. • What can CriticalTheorysayaboutallthis? • Corporatismorturningyourenemiesintoyourallies • Pragmatismorideologyisforsuckers (p. 246)

  17. 1968. TheFirst Crisis: Moral Disenchantment • 1968 Olympic Games. For the first time happening in a developing (undemocratic) country. • Student protests and repression. • Consequences: moral disenchantment towards the system, the role of public intellectuals, entrenchment of opposition. • 1970’s guerrilla cells all over the country.

  18. 1982. The Second Crisis: The Time of the Technocrats • High inflation rates, underproductive sectors of the economy, high levels of corruption, collapse of oil prices in the international markets. • Washington consensus: privatization and liberalization. • Reduction in the party’s / state’s capacity for cooptation: less carrots. • Internal breakdown within the party • Fragmentation of PRI, emergence of PRD. • Entrepreneurial elite becomes hostile to the government. • Left-wing opposition gaining power.

  19. 1994-1995. The Third Crisis: • PRI losing several local elections • Salinas’s policies of full-fledged neoliberalism • Presidentialcandidate Luis Donaldo Colosio’smurder • Privatization of key sectors of the economy: i.e., telecommunications • NAFTA • EZLN • Financial crisis

  20. 2000. Transition • High expectations • Lack of consensus, deadlock. • Pacted transition? • If the consolidation of the state (the centralization of power and its monopoly of violence, its capacity to implement public policies all over the territory) was originally conflated with the consolidation of the party in power, what can we expect when the party breaks down?

  21. Present Challenges • Economy • Rule of law • Democratic Transition

  22. Economy • Poverty and inequality • Growth strategies: • Liberalization during the 1990s: • Country with the most free trade agreements in the World (13) • Mono-producer: oil • Crisis in agriculture • Foreign revenues • Labour intensive strategy (maquiladoras) • Fiscal crisis: • PEMEX • Public pensions, unionized state-employees (remnants of the Ancien régime)

  23. Rule of Law • Drug Cartels • Northern border: human rights violations • Corruption (free-rider and rent-seeking behaviour)

  24. Democratic Transition • 2006 elections: • Percent of vote: Felipe CALDERON 35.89%, Andres Manuel LOPEZ OBRADOR 35.31%, Roberto MADRAZO 22.26%, other 6.54% • Quality of democracy (Is electoral democracy enough?) • Challenges to the State • Murder of journalists (2010: second most dangerous country for journalists, only after Iraq)

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