1. March 4 – Citizen and State
Agenda:
Citizen and State
Reading: ISI
HW:
Annotate ISI reading and add to your notes
Take Out
Pen/Pencil
Notebook

2. Citizen and State

3. Situation #1 If you were a member of the elite…what
Democracy has come to Mexico Everyone can vote!
Many illiterate
Many peasants in rural areas (hard lives, need help to have livelihood)
If you were a member of the elite…what
concerns would you have?

4. Patron-Client System Emphasized… Elite decide who gets favors
compromise among contending elites
behind the scenes conflict resolution
distribution of political rewards to those willing to play by informal and formal rules of game
Elite decide who gets favors
Clientelism: Informal policymaking relationship between individuals who provide goods/services to those in less strategic or powerful positions in return for their political or economic support.

5. In Mexico, Patron-client relationships work through Camarillas.
You can learn a lot about Mexico by studying these camarillas:
Relationship between citizen and state
Why the party is so strong
What gives the structure strength
etc.
People belong for any reason but the politics. A system of camarillas for 15 million.

6. What would you say is the purpose of Patron-Clientelism?

7. Problems
Citizens sometimes benefited from patronage but legitimate channels to policymakers were few
Relationship:

8. If this is the reality of citizen and state relationship…
How does the government keep the people happy…
especially when we know they have a history of protest and revolution?
Are they satisfied?
Why don’t the people get rid of the government?

9. Co-optation
Incorporates dissidents into the system and accommodate to their demands
i.e.: so that they do not threaten its continuity
Example:
1968 students protesting in Mexico City
Put many young people to work in expanding anti-poverty programs in countryside and urban slums

10. Mexican Political System - Corporatism
Corporatist organizations under the PRI
Example: Confederation of Mexican workers
Recognized by PRI; independent unions repressed
Agreed to limit demands
Limits on wage increases, limits on grievance procedures, limit on right to strike.
Leaders of official federations rewarded by PRI
1980s-90s: 14-22% of Congress Confederation of Mexican Workers
Corporatism: Citizen participation is channeled into state-sanctioned groups

11. Interest Group Activity
Business interests – Ultimately…Elites became wealthy, but not incorporated into PRI.
Labor –Union boss power falls, because unions are accommodated by the system.
Rural peasant organizations – on the rise but co-opted as necessary
Urban Movements – social welfare spending, city services, neighborhood improvements, etc.

12. What would you say about voter behavior before 1990s?
PRI controlled local, state and national elections
Voter rates high because patron-client required political support

13. Situation #2 How might this affect the political
Mexico is now more than 75% urban
Literacy rate 90%
How might this affect the political
system/relationship between
citizen and state?
Voting?

14. Political Participation
Over time, Mexicans have enjoyed widespread freedoms
Religion, press, assembly, to vote, own property or even choose a school
Yet there have been civil rights abuses by the government
Violent strike breaking
Student massacres
Lots of assassinations

15. But…
While they might have been free, until 2000 Mexicans could never turn this freedom into an alternate political power

16. What do you think the future holds for the relationship between citizen and state in Mexico?