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Language
English (en)
Date of Award
5-1-2006
Author's Department
International and Area Studies
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (A.B.)
Restricted/Unrestricted
Restricted
Abstract
During a pe1iod of seventy years, the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, Revolutionary Institutional Pm1y) held sole control over Mexican politics. Despite a political movement begun in the 1980s advocating democratic reform within the ruling pm1y, numerous incidences of political corruption have tainted Mexico's transition towards democracy and require examination of the effective reality of these reforms. In fact, democratization has arguably provided former minority parties the ability to gain and maintain power through corruption as the PRI no longer remained the sole political party capable of such actions. Single-party hegemony in Mexico dates back more than eighty years to the founding of the PNR (Partido Nacional Revolucionario, National Revolutionary Party). Historically embedded in the precursory formation of the PNR, the PRI developed as a result of PNR transformations. Plutarco Elf as Calles founded the PNR in 1929 in an attempt to stabilize the government by means of the formation of official rules, ensuring that no one person could again assume political domination. 1 Four main principles mark the reform established by Calles that significantly help to characterize Mexican party politics in the 1980s and 1990s. First, a prohibition on reelection in addition to a concentration of power in the presidency guaranteed that no single person would be capable of dictating despotic control of the government. A president served a single, six year te1m (referred to in Spanish as the sexenio ). However, a president was granted the power to nominate a successor upon completing his sexenio (a process known as the dedazo ), establishing a political system that various political scientists have referred to as monarchical. 2 This unveiling process known as the des/ape allowed the president to retain future political influence in spite of the prohibition on reelection. Pundits have jokingly referred to this system as a "one man, one vote" system.3 However, Centeno notes that generally, presidents failed to retain influence after finishing the sexenio.4 As second element of Elf as Calles' reforms, although resulting from intentional and unintentional means, the bureaucracy gained through control over the military and the party. These provided both the support and the military security necessary for the continuation and preservation of the political system, yet both lacked the ability to restrict bureaucratic decision-making. Third, Elfas Calles effectively connected the party to the roots of the Mexican Revolution, garnering support and legitimacy while staving off possible oppositional appeals. Miguel Angel Centeno writes, "in a pattern to be envied by almost all Latin American countries, the Mexican state by 1940 appeared to have resolved the problems of succession, praetorianism, governmental autonomy, and mass legitimacy. "5 Fourth, during the two subsequent presidential terms, the system developed ties between the p1ivate capital and the state, leading to economic prosperity in the 1950s and 1960s.
Recommended Citation
Kothegal, Nikhil, "2006: The Year Of The Left In Mexico?" (2006). Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses. 126.
https://repository.library.washu.edu/undergrad_etd/126