Mexico’s Political Culture A Mishmash of Stuff

Oil 1970s pressure from poverty rapid population growth questions about legitimacy Response investment in infrastructure & industry increased social spending decreased foreign capital Used projected profits from rising oil prices to borrow money to pay for it When the bottom fell out of oil prices, so did the economy

Economic Development Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) vs. Neoliberalism ISI focuses on high tariffs to protect local goods government ownership of key industries subsidies to local industry Neoliberalism focuses on development of free market private ownership scaling back social welfare

Population and jobs Mexico’s GDP less than the United States, yet more than China, Nigeria, and Iran Big question is how to create jobs for millions of unemployed At least half of the population lives below the official poverty line Significant income gap The bottom 60% only have 26% of the wealth The bottom 10% only have 1.6% of the wealth The top 10% have 41% of the wealth economy cannot keep up with its population growth state-owned industries do not grow quickly to create new jobs those that do create jobs only a few for qualified people Recent antipoverty legislation pays poor families a small subsidy, so parents can pay for basic needs and their children can stay in school Legislation has also been created to give small loans (around $100) to people to create a small business

Rebellion in the south Led by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) – centered in Chiapas Created by poverty and human rights violations Arbitrary detention and torture exists throughout the country, but are concentrated against native people Guided by “Subcomandante Marcos” 1994 uprising response to NAFTA signing 12 days of fighting led to a stalemate rebels eventually forced into the countryside Activity since 2005 has centered on large protests and internet postings.

Political Socialization Schools which use government issued textbooks The Catholic Church Personal encounters with government officials Participation in local organizations and popular movements most NGOs are located in Mexico City Through the media Which was controlled by the PRI until recently Very few people have access to newspapers Televisa with its monopoly and relationship with the PRI

The Media Between 1940 and 1990, the PRI owned key electronic media outlets The result was little room for questioning of the government The arrival of TV Azteca in the late 1980s has changed this Televisa has had to give more coverage to opposition voices to remain competitive Newspapers have enjoyed more freedom for a little longer. However, that freedom has come with a cost of the murder of several hundred journalists So, the PRI kept media under control with subsidies, bribes, and threats However, many experts attribute the growing independent media in the 1990s as a key source of modern democratization

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) Has no clear ideology Anyone who wanted to be in politics, joined The “backbone of the corporatist system” president chose candidates candidates indebted to party, not voters former legislators moved into bureaucratic jobs judges appointed by PRI-controlled Senate The PRI manipulated election results, even when they would have won comfortably

Collapse of the PRI Two main reasons: modernization: urban, educated, and middle class people are more aware of the outside world policy failures 1968 standoff with student protestors which left 400 dead 1980s economic mismanagement of oil rapid downturn of peasants’ standard of living lack of reaction to the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City Once change occurred, it did so rapidly. Opposition officials did not owe allegiance to the PRI, so they could demand more power. Also, with economic mismanagement, the PRI no longer had the resources to provide patronage.

BUT…they are back Enrique Pena Nieto

Women’s Issues 47% of university students are female 16% of Congress is female (compared to the U.S.’s 14%) They have served as governors, party presidents, and on the cabinet A women’s movement is difficult to organize due to class divisions Women make up the majority of workers in foreign factories