Democracy in Mexico: The Past, Present, and Future

Works Cited

[1] Dahl, Robert A. (1972). Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. Yale Univ. Press: New Haven.

[2] Grayson, George W. “Evolution of Mexico and Other Single-Party States.” International Studies Review 9.2 (2007): 322-367. Web. 10 June 2011.

[3] Thompson, Ginger. “Ex-President in Mexico Casts New Light on Rigged 1988 Election.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 9 March 2004. Web. 10 June 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/09/world/ex-president-in-mexico-casts-new-light-on-rigged-1988-election.html

[4] Bejar, Alejandro Alvarez, et. al. “Mexico 1988-1991: A Successful Economic Adjustment Program?” Latin American Perspectives 20.3 (1993): 32-45. Web. 10 June 2011.

[5] Orozco-Henriquez, Jesus. The Mexican Electoral Court and the Federal Judiciary and the 2006 Presidential Election. CSIS Mexico Project. Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC. 10 July 2006. Keynote Address. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/10/AR2006071000996.html

[6] Lawson, Chappell H. “The Elections of 1997.” Journal of Democracy 8.4 (1997): 13-27. Web. 10 June 2011.

[7] Casillas, Carlos E., and Alejandro Mujica. “Mexico: New Democracy with Old Parties?” Politics 23.3 (2003): 172-180. Web. 10 June 2011.

[8] Ugalde, Dr. Luis Carlos. The 2012 Mexican Elections: A New Test for Democracy. Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars. National Endowment for Democracy, Washington, DC. 2 June 2011. Panel Discussion.

[9] Haas, Katherine. “Mexico’s July 4^th Elections: Defined by Mixed Results.” Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 6 July 2010. Web. 10 June 2011.

[10] Roig-Franzia, Manuel. “Mexican Court Declares Calderón President-Elect.” The Washington Post. The Washington Post, 6 September 2006. Web. 10 June 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/05/AR2006090500120.html

[11] Kearney, Kevin. “Mexico: Election dispute threatens breakup of PRD.” World Socialist Web Site. International Committee of the Fourth International, 7 May 2008. Web. 10 June 2011. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/may2008/mexi-m07.shtml

[12] Diaz-Cayeros, Alberto. Accountability and Municipal Reelection in Mexico. Latin American Institute. University of California Los Angeles. Los Angeles, CA. 24 February 2007. Conference Presentation. http://www.international.ucla.edu/lac/fiscalfederalism/municipalaccountability.pdf

[13] Beittel, June S., et. al. “Mexico-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress.” CRS Report for Congress (2009): 1-36. Web. 11 June 2011.

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[15] Alvarez, Miguel. A Pact of Mexican civil Society for a Peaceful Mexico with Justice and Dignity. Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Rome Auditorium. Washington, DC. 16 June 2011. Panel Discussion.

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[17] Gilbreth, Chris, and Gerardo Otero. “Democratization in Mexico: The Zapatista Uprising and Civil Society.” Latin American Perspectives 28.4 (2001): 7-29. Web. 16 June 2011.

[18] Olvera, Alberto J. "The Elusive Democracy: Political Parties, Democratic Institutions, and Civil Society in Mexico." Latin American Research Review 45 (2010): 78-107. Web. 10 June 2011.

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[1] Democracy is defined as a government in which citizens “have unimpaired opportunities to formulate their preferences, to signify their preferences to their fellow citizens and the government by individual and collective action and to have their preferences weighed equally in the conduct of the government.” [1]

[2] Carlos Salinas de Gortari was the PRI candidate in the 1988 presidential elections. He was declared as the winner of the elections after the Federal Electoral Commission, the institution then in charge of all of Mexico’s electoral processes, supposedly experienced a crash in its ballot-counting system the day of the election. Three years later, Congress voted to destroy the original ballots before they were recounted, thus destroying any evidence that could prove that Salinas de Gortari could have even remotely won the election legally.

[3] This law was created in reaction to the Mexican Revolution, which began as an uprising against Porfirio Díaz —a dictator whose thirty-year rule lasted from 1880 to 1910.

[4] On January 1, 1994, indigenous workers banded together in Chiapas, Mexico to form the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). The EZLN was created to hold the government accountable for the passing of NAFTA, which threatened to take away the few things the hard-working and impoverished peasants had, namely their land and their ability to sell the fruits of their labor. Then-president Carlos Salinas de Gortari attempted to control the uprising, but was eventually persuaded to participate in negotiations with the Zapatistas as people across the country congregated in masses to show their solidarity for the movement. The Zapatistas have continued to lobby for equity in Mexico since their initial victory, setting an example for other civil liberty groups.