Mexico

population: 107 million

Civilizations in the Americas Before 1500

An Olmec maskOlmec Civilization 1200BC-200AD

Chichen Itza

Tikal

Mayan Civilization peak 300-700AD

Palenque

Toltec Civilization 600-1300 AD

Toltec warriors

Teotihuacan (tayeteewakan)

Teotihuacan Today

Quetzalcóat

Aztec Civilization 1300s-1520s

Aztec Calendar

Tenochtitlán

Spanish conquest and colonialism

The makings of the modern Mexican nation came together in the Spanish Conquest, when Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec empire in 1519.

Merchantilist economy, strict military rule, racial miscegenation of Europeans and Amerindians to create mestizo society, large landed aristocracies (haciendas).

Class and racial divisions between Europeans, mestizos, Indians. This led to problems in building national unity after independence.

Mexican Independence Movement 1810-1821

Miguel Hidalgo 1753-1811

Independence and the Creation of the Mexican State - September 16, 1810- insurgency led by Miguel Hidalgo begins

Hidalgo, a Catholic priest, was executed by the Spanish in 1811 along with other insurgency leaders.

Independence comes in 1822

Followed by instability and rivalry between liberals and conservatives.

Liberals sought to modernize and democratize Mexican society.

Conservatives wanted a restored monarchy, centralized power, and strong role for the Catholic Church.

The rivalry between liberals and conservatives produced a great deal of political instability in the early years.

24 presidents between 1823 and 1855

Rebellion and Instability in Mexico

The Texas Revolution 1835-1836

The Republic of Texas 1836-1845

Gen. Santa Anna and Sam HoustonBattle of San Jacinto 1836

Battle of the Alamo 1836

La Intervención Norteamericana 1846-1848

Boundary disputes provokes Mexican-American War 1846-1848, after which Mexico looses nearly half its territory to the United States.

Intervention by the United States and France stimulates Mexican nationalism.

In 1861, France under Napoleon III invades and establishes a short-lived monarchy under Maximilian.

The monarchy was accepted by conservatives, but opposed by liberals.

Emperor Maximilian I1864-1867

French Intervention of 1862

Revolt of 1867

Benito Juarez, President

1858-1872

In 1867, the Liberals led by Benito Juarez (a Zapotec Indian) revolt against the monarchy and execute Maximilian and his generals.

Juarez serves as president of Mexico until his death in 1872.

Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day

Commemorates defeat of French at the Battle of Puebla May 5, 1862

Not a federal holiday in Mexico, mainly celebrated in Puebla state

Gen. Porfirio Diaz is president, 1876-80 and 1884-1910 (porfiriato).

Diaz sought to use his strong-man leadership to modernize Mexico with the help of a team of close advisors, referred to as cientificos (scientists).

The Porfiriato 1876-1911

Gen. Porfirio DiazPresident

Mural depicting Diaz’s cientificos

Mexico experienced unprecedented growth under Diaz, driven mainly by investment in mining and railroads.

Much of the investment poured in from the United States, though many Mexicans grew to resent widespread foreign ownership of Mexican industry, land, and national wealth.

The fact the United States was a strong backer of the Diaz regime ultimately undermined its legitimacy.

The Diaz regime also did little to alleviate the problems of the peasantry.

After the Constitution of 1857, collective land ownership (ejidos) was eliminated as was vast holdings of land by the catholic church.

Much of this land was ultimately transferred into large hacienda estates by the country’s elite, with large peasant populations working as sharecroppers rather than landowners.

Sugar Plantation

Hacienda Tabi

Yucatan Peninsula

Mexican Revolution of 1910

Francisco Madero

President 1910-1913

In 1910, opposition to Diaz’s rule united around Francisco Madero’s presidential campaign.

Madero was a US educated wealthy liberal landowner who began work on democratic reforms.

The Mexican Revolution began in 1910 with the ousting of Diaz who fled the country.

Key to Madero’s victory were two prominent figures – Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa.

Emiliano Zapata

Liberation Army of the South

“Zapatistas”

The Mexican Revolution 1910-1920

Pancho VillaDivisión del Norte

The 1913 coup

Madero assassinated in 1913 by former supporters of Diaz, plunging Mexico into anarchy.

The assassination had actually received the backing of the US ambassador to Mexico, Henry Lane Wilson, who feared Madero’s government would move against foreign investors.

Victoriano Huerta1913-1914

Following Madero’s death, a military dictatorship was set up under Victoriano Huerta

Civil war ensued between federal forces and the armies of Zapata and Villa.

Villa and Zapata in Mexico City, 1915

In 1915, Zapata and Villa drive Huerta from power and briefly assume control of government. But fighting continues as rival groups cannot agree on what direction in which to take the country.

Venustiano Carranza

Pres. 1917-1920

In 1917, Constitutionalists under Venustiano Carranza, drive Villa and Zapata from power.

Carranza is elected president and his government drafts the Mexican Constitution of 1917, which remains the present day constitution of Mexico.

Mexican Constitution of 1917

In 1920, Constitutionalists are driven from power as Venustiano Carranza is assassinated in a military coup.

Marks the beginning of the Sonoran Dynasty.

In the course of the revolution nearly a million Mexicans are thought to have died.

Ending the Revolution

Mural to Carranza

The Sonoran Dynasty 1920-1934

Gen. Álvaro Obregón

Pres. 1920-1924

The Sonoran dynasty takes its name from a series of big boss leadership (jefe maximo) from the Sonoran province.

First was Gen. Álvaro Obregón, one of the conspirators in the Carranza assassination, who himself was assassinated after his re-election in 1924.

Plutarco CallesPres 1924-1928

The Sonoran Dynasty 1920-1934

Obregón was followed by Plutarco Calles, who ruled as President from 1924-1928 and then hand-picked his successors until 1934.

Important Developments under Calles’ rule

Establishment of the Institutional Revolutionary Party under Calles

Efforts to limit the power of the Catholic Church (anticlericalism)

Nationalization of economic policy (much of Mexico’s industrial and agricultural wealth had been under the control of private investors/foreign investors prior to Calles).

The goal of the PRI was to unite all factions into one mass revolutionary party and end decades of political violence.

For the most part, it worked, and it gave Calles unprecedented control over Mexican politics.

Lázaro Cárdenas, Agrarian Reform and the Workers

Lázaro Cárdenas

Pres. 1934-1940

In 1934, Calles makes a miscalculated choice that brings an end to the Sonoran Dynasty.

Lazaro Cárdenas becomes president in 1934 and initiates major revolutionary policy changes

Ejidos - collective land

Land reform

Distributes nearly 49 million acres of land to peasants in the form of ejidos (collective lands) thereby creating a strong dependency between the peasantry and the government (clientelism).

He also creates the National Peasant Confederation CNC as a peak association for the peasant groups as part of the PRI.

Promotes labor organizing (built labor unions around the PRI – also clientelism) Creates the Mexican Workers’ Federation (CTM) as a peak association for labor unions, also under the PRI.

Cardenas also nationalizes the oil production industry from US and British companies in 1938 creating a giant state owned enterprise Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX). This would prove fortuitous when vast oil belts were discovered in Mexico in the 1970s.

Cardenas success at incorporating various interest groups into the PRI gave him extraordinary control over Mexican politics, including the ability to hand pick political successors and co-opt political opposition.

Expansion of Presidential Power

Cardenas’ expansion of presidential power - more revolutionary than FDRs New Deal coalition in the United States, but without any real competition on policy making from Congress.

Between the 1930s and 1990s, no single presidential bill was ever turned down (overridden) by the Mexican Congress.

Cardenas also centralized control of revenue, leaving regional state governments and municipalities heavily dependent on the state.

Economic Growth but No Democracy

1940s-1970s – rapid economic growth but limited democracy (women do finally get the right to vote in 1953)-

All political power consolidated around the PRI, with a succession of PRI presidents each serving single six year terms (sexenios).

By the 1960s the PRI becomes repressive of opposition.

1968 Student Demonstrations

‘Tlaltelolco Massacre’

1968 is indicative of the problems facing Mexico

Economic development has won it the right to host the 1968 Summer Olympic Games, but its also a year of brutal crackdowns.

1968, 1971 Student Demonstrations in Mexico City.

If we had been studying Mexican politics in the 1970s, we would note that while Mexico has an elected President, congress, and state governments, the regime has much more in common with the military rulers of South American than democracies of Canada and the United States.

Mexico was in effect a one-party authoritarian government under the PRI and had been so since its founding in 1929 until 2000.

Central features of Mexican politics included presidentialism, centralism, state corporatism, clientelism.

Economic development

State capitalism – government management/intervention to encourage private investment, development

Import-substituting industrialization (ISI) and large state involvement in the economy produced “Mexican miracle” from 1950s to 1970s, but left millions of poor behind; many emigrated to U.S.

The PRI tended to favor big projects and grants to large corporate industries rather than small business or small farmers on the ejidos.

Many people left the countryside in the 1960s and 1970s leading to dramatic urbanization and overcrowding of cities like Mexico Cities and border towns in the north.

Luis Echeverría

Pres 1970-1976

The last president to vigorously pursue ISI was Luis Echeverria (1970-76) who drew the wrath of the business community with his expensive populist programs

Echeverria was also highly critical of the United States over Vietnam and support of Israel.

He was also the most repressive president of opposition groups and even today, there are still ongoing cases about human rights abuse during his tenure.

José López PortilloPres. 1976-1982

Pres. Jose Lopez Portillo (1976-82) mends fences with business

Oil discoveries spark economic boom, but Mexico runs up massive foreign debt.

Most of the debt is generated as a result of the PRI trying to co-opt many diverse interest groups.

Buying loyalty was becoming more expensive.

Pipeline System

Oil!

Economic crisis ensues after as oil prices drop after 1981.

The threat that Mexico might default on its foreign loans, caused major capital flight and devaluing of the peso.

Ultimately, the United States intervened with loans to restructure Mexico’s debt.

Miguel de la Madrid

Pres. 1982-1988

Economic Crisis and Reform 1998-2001

Presidents Miguel de la Madrid (1982-88) and Carlos Salinas (1988-94) abandon ISI and heavy state involvement in the economy.

Move toward more market mechanisms and trade in an increasingly globalized economy—neoliberalism, privatization, NAFTA.

Salinas Presidency

Neoliberal economic practices improved Mexico’s economy.

However, the costs of transition were largely born out by the poor who saw a drop in real wages by nearly 40% in the 1980s.

Also major cuts in spending on entitlements and social welfare programs.

Carlos Salinas1988-1994

Ernesto ZedilloPres. 1994-2000

Zedillo Presidency and Fall of the PRI

Another financial crisis struck Mexico in 1994 at start of President Ernesto Zedillo’s term.

Zedillo was forced to enact a number of unpopular austerity measures to revive the economy, including cuts in social services like health care and education.

PRI was no longer in a position to buy political support and opposition forces were growing in strength.

1994-Turbulent Year in Mexican Politics

Assassination of PRI Presidential

Candidate Luis Colosio

Zapatista Army of National Liberation - Chiapas

Peso loses half value

NAFTA

Luke-warm reception of NAFTA at the beginning both in Mexico and the United States.

Strongest symbol of Mexico’s transition from Import Substitution to a neoliberal export-led growth economy.

NAFTA has led to substantial growth in trade and investment in and out of Mexico.

One interesting question is whether NAFTA has contributed to Mexico’s speedy transition to democracy.

Critics of NAFTA both in the US and Mexico point to the “negative externalities” of the neo-liberal program.

Mexico’s proximity to the United States is critical to its economy and plays an important role in political life.

Almost 80% of Mexico’s exports are bound for US markets.

Conclusions about Economic Development

Rural poverty still a huge problem in Mexico, especially among indigenous peoples.

Urban poverty has likewise grown with large populations of squatters and tenement communities.

Population growth rates continue to be high in Mexico.

Overall, however, living conditions have improved dramatically since the 1940s.

A sizable middle class continues to emerge.

The gap between rich and power, however, is also widening.

In 1940, the top 30% of the population controlled 60% of the national wealth.

By 2000, they control nearly 80%, while the bottom 40% account for only 10% of the nations wealth.

Rural areas in the south and center of the country are most affected.

In contrast, border towns with the United States have experienced tremendous growth, especially in manufacturing (maquiladoras).

NAFTA has led to much greater integration of the Mexican-US economies.

In 2000, 89% of Mexico’s exports go to the US, and 74% of its imports come from the US.

Mexico Today

Mexico is largest Spanish speaking country in the world.

Mexico’s transition to democracy has come slowly, the result of many efforts by opposition politicians and democracy advocates to pressure the PRI to yield power.

Despite political upheavals and crisis, Mexico has been remarkably stable in the 20th century under the governance of the PRI.

Today, Mexico is moving successfully toward consolidated democracy.

Living standards have improved. The country has urbanized, industrialized, and modernized from its largely rural agrarian past.

At the same time, the benefits of economic modernization still fail to reach many urban and rural poor.

Mexico city alone has 18 million inhabitants and ranks as one of the largest cities in the world. Mexico’s population has dramatically urbanized as people living in the country fail to find much prospects for employment.

Regions of Mexico differ dramatically in terms of economic conditions and activities.

Regionalism (north, central, and south)

Regionalism in Mexico

Regions of Mexico differ dramatically in terms of economic conditions and activities.

The border areas specialize in export goods to the US.

Central Mexico is the site of most heavy industry such as automobiles and steel.

The south is more agricultural and has actually experienced some decline as a result of increased US grain imports following NAFTA.

Cultural Differences

There are also important cultural differences between the north and the south.

The north of Mexico – “rugged individualists” we associate with the west, a dislike of government intrusion into local affairs, and a general inclination to private enterprise over state industry.

Mexico city residents –”cosmopolitans” that tend to look down on rough life in the countryside.

The deep south remains very traditional. Indigenous groups practice communal land ownership, reject private enterprise, and want to maintain local autonomy and long-standing traditions.

Indigenous Groups in Mexico

Ethnic heterogeneity (Hispanic, mestizos, native Indians) are part of Mexico’s social fabric.

Race and Ethnicity in Mexico

There are also important racial/ethnic differences.

Northerners are more likely to be Caucasian or mestizo.

Southerners are more likely Amerindian or mestizo.

Northerners tend to hold negative views of the indigenous south as well as bureaucrats in Mexico City.

One Northern politician put things this way: “The north works, the center thinks, and the south rests”.

Governance

Organization of the State – Mexico’s political institutions closely resemble those in the United States (checks and balances, three branches of government, bicameral legislature, supreme court, etc).

The Mexican Congreso has a Senate composed of 128 senators (three from each of 31 states + 3 from Mexico City + 32 elected by PR).

Congreso

The lower house is called the Chamber of Deputies and has 500 members – 300 elected using SMD and 200 using PR.

Elections also take place on the state and local level.

Presidents, governors, and senators serve 6 year terms.

Deputies serve three year terms.

Chamber of Deputies

Presidential Palace

The President

Powerful position in Mexican politics

In the PRI years, each president would hand pick his successor.

Power of appointment, patronage still prominent.

Since 1970s, most presidents are coming from backgrounds in economics, finance, and business. Before the 1970s, most presidents had military backgrounds.

Bureaucracy -large, powerful federal bureaucracy.

Also many important para-statal institutions like PEMEX.

Since 1990s, privatization has reduced the number of para-statal institutions.

The Military – Mexico has better civilian control over the military than most other Latin American countries.

Supreme Court

The Judiciary and the Constitution

Legal system based on Roman and Napoleonic Law (codified law, less room for interpretation or overturning precedents).

Constitution is more easily amended than in the United States.

The structure of the judiciary is similar to the US, but the Mexican Supreme Court is generally much weaker than the US counterpart.

Estados Unidos Mexicanos

State government – Mexico has a federal system like the US, but there is much more federal control in Mexico than US (centralization). State governments have little tax revenue. Conflicts and tensions between state and federal government are common.

Policy-making

Most policy making is directed by the President and his cabinet. Congress tends to be reactive.

Congressional challenges to Presidential authority have grown in recent years, since the PRI no longer has absolute majorities (new era of divided government?).

Women are heavily underrepresented in Mexican politics, accounting for less than a quarter of representative positions in Congress. This is generally true throughout Latin America.

Vicente Fox-PAN

2000-2006

2000 Presidential Election

Vicente Fox (Party of National Action-PAN) defeats leftist PRI candidate.

Major milestone in Mexican politics. PRI ruled Mexico for over 70 years.

A major transition in Mexican political thought toward neoliberalism and away from socialism.

Pres. Felipe Calderon

PAN

2006, 2012 Presidential Elections

Enrique Peña Nieto

President Elect - PRI

Political Parties

National Action Party

Institutional Revolutionary Party

Party of the

Democratic

Revolution

Labour PartyGreen Party

Convergence

Political Culture, Citizenship, Identity

Traditional state run broadcast media was highly passive in its coverage of the state.

This remains generally true of new private TV and radio media as well like Televisa and TV Azteca.

In contrast, the print media tends to be much more critical and investigative journalism has expanded significantly.

In essence, Mexico now has a much freer and critical press which is essential to a democracy

Recent Developments

Increasing citizen participation, interest groups, social movements (especially on human rights issues, socioeconomic reform), expansion of role of women.

One of the more important reforms to come about was the 2002 requirement that at least 30% of candidates for all parties must be women in congressional elections.

In the 2003 midterm elections, women moved up from 16% to 23% of elected representatives in Congress.

Issues in US-Mexican relations

Migration to the United States – millions of immigrants seeking jobs, sending revenue back to Mexico ($16 billion each year). Long tradition of Mexican immigration to the US (braceros – seasonal laborers).

The United States, for better or worse, has also functioned as a social safety valve for Mexican society.

When people can’t find jobs in Mexico, legally or illegally, many head for the United States.

Mexico also benefits from billions of dollars in savings that Mexicans remit from the United States each year back home.

In 2000, both President Bush and Vicente Fox were in favor of easing restrictions on immigration and guest workers from Mexico.

September 11, however, ultimately created divisions that prevented the close relationship that Fox and Bush had initially envisioned.

The bulk of US aid and attention that had been intended for Latin American development suddenly got shifted to the Middle East and the War on Terror.

Resolving the problem of immigration appears to be one if the important opportunity costs of the Bush administrations ongoing war on terror.