Assignment+2

//What is legitimacy?// The idea of legitimacy is that a country can lawfully exist only if it has the consent of its constituents and the recognition of other states. To be truly legitimate, a country needs to respect civil rights and practice some form of democratic rule. (AJ)

//Why is Mexico legitimate?// Mexico’s overarching tenet of government is the recognition and guarantee of human rights; all other laws are derived from this. Accordingly, the Mexican government is a republican, federal, representative democracy with universal suffrage. According to the Mexican constitution, “national sovereignty resides essentially and originally in the people.” In addition, the Mexican government is a product of popular revolution, deriving legitmacy from the wishes of the masses. This empowerment of the people, and recognition of their basic rights and liberties, allows for Mexico to be nominally legitimate, though not in practice (until recently). The road to legitimacy evaded Mexico until 2000, when Vicente Fox was elected president from the opposition party, marking the first truly free election in over half a century. In the 2006 election, the margin between the top two candidates' electoral percentages was less than half of a percent, which further raised questions of legitimacy, for Felipe Calderon, the victor, was directly involved in the company whose machines were used to tally the votes. This, coupled with the wide influence of drug cartels over much of western and northern Mexico, often eclipsing the power of the federal government and infringing upon civil rights, raises more questions of Mexico's legitimacy (http://www.monthlyreview.org/0707bejar.php). (AJ)

//Mexico's Constitution// The Constitution derives it's authority from the people, as it was written in 1917 during the popular Mexican Revolution. It states, "national soverignty resides essentially and originally in the people." The Constitution guarantees certain inalienable rights and denies all forms of discrimination. In addition, education and equality under the law are guaranteed for all Mexicans. In most respects, the Mexican Constitution is similar to that of many other Democratic countries. One interesting facet of this document, however, is the mandate that the "development of the family" be in the care of the wife and mother, a reflection of Mexico's traditional patriarchal society. (AJ)

The official English translation of the Mexican Constitution: []

//Current Events// The president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, has made it a point to fight drug trafficking in Mexico. The other month he sent a police force into his home state and arrested 28 officials including, ten mayors, a senior prosecutor, and a judge. They were arrested for being suspected of collaborating with a large drug cartel in the area, la familia.Critics are saying that the arrests will not hold up in court because they do not have enough evidence to prosecute them. Calderon is being criticized for arresting to prosecute and not prosecuting to arrest. A law the past year went into affect which allowed police to hold people up to 90 days without charges; this law is called arraigo.This stunt is also creating tensions with the other parties. Although one of the judges was from his own party the other were from leftist parties. Some say that this has just been a stunt before the mid year election. This event shows the corruption and faulty system of the Mexican government. To begin with many high ranking officials in the court and even in the drug war are being paid of by the large drug cartels. This is explained by the **patron-clientelism** system. Which is easily described as “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.” The network is called **camarillas** which are the political elites and groups that rig the elections. The second part is how the government of Mexico is going about to prosecute the corrupt officials. Calderon has basically gone on a man hunt without respecting the rights of the citizens. They are allowed to hold a person for up to 90 days while the officials try to gather evidence to prosecute them.

(CHM)
 * Camarillas (patron-client networks)-** “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.” Basically it is a network of people who have formed a voting machine which rigs elections.
 * Corruption-** it is the by product of the camarillas. The voting machine rigs elections by creating or destroying ballots. They also pay people to vote for certain candidates.
 * Caudillos-** these are political/military strongman from different areas of the country. Some examples of these are Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa.
 * Sexeño**- refers to the 6 year presidential term
 * PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party)-** the party that has held the presidential and majority in congress for over 80 years. They “institutionalized” the revolution by stabilizing conflict between leaders.
 * Corporatist structure-** central, authoritarian rule that allows input from interest groups outside the government
 * Nonrelection-** idea that once done a term the president will not run for re election

//Political and Historical Trends//
 * Four political trends throughout Mexico's History include Authoritarianism, Populism, Power Plays/Divisions within the Elite, and Instability and Legitimacy Issues. **


 * Authoritarianism** –

(AS) >> (AS) >> Source: [|www.mexiconline.com/]
 * Colonial Rule:
 * 1521 – Cortes and Conquistadors conquered Aztec Empire (Picture of Hernan Cortes: [])
 * Unlike nomadic tribes of North America, Aztec civilizations were set up before Cortes arrived to Mexico, Spaniards had to incorporate the natives into their political system
 * Spaniards at the top of the hierarchy, mixed offspring in the middle, natives at the bottom
 * Churched forced Catholicism on entire population
 * Ruled up until the Revolution of 1810
 * Porfirio Diaz:
 * Ruled Mexico with an iron fist for 34 years
 * Brought stability, end of chaos after the Revolution of 1810
 * Ironically ran on principle of non-reelection
 * Disparity grew between rich and poor during his reign
 * Succeeded by Francisco Madero in 1911 after a revolution erupted to remove Diaz from office
 * Porfirio Diaz[[image:http://www.emersonkent.com/images/porfiriodiaz.jpg width="261" height="404"]]
 * Populism –**
 * Revolution of Independence of 1810:
 * September 16, 1810 - A catholic priest named Hidalgo y Castillo called mestizos and natives to to mass, delivering the message to retaliate against the oppressive Gachupines (Spaniards)
 * Hidalgo joined forces with the Criollos, or Mexican-Born Spaniards to gain independence from the Gachupines
 * Whereas the Criollos had a bloodshed free plan to take over power, Hidalgo mobilized a group of over 100,000 angry mestizos and Indians, who fought the Gachupines until victory 11 years later
 * Revolution of 1910:
 * Strikes held across the country against the tyrannical Diaz, led by Francisco Madero
 * Francisco Madero proven a weak leader, assassinated and arrested
 * Villa, Zapata, and Carranza raise armies of landless peasants and poor industrial workers and battle for control of the country, Carranza comes out the victor
 * Carranza created a constitution in 1917 but did not address land reform or needs of the poor
 * It was not until the Cardenas sexeno that agrarian reform came to the forefront of policy, 15,000 villages benefited

**Power plays/division within elite (ELT)**
 * Like most Spanish colonies Mexico has a long history of political chaos and bloodshed. Even up until the 1990’s political candidates were being assassinated
 * The three main power struggles occurred in the the Revolution of 1910, the early 20th century Caudillos, and the late 20th century conflict between the Politicos and the Tecnicos
 * The Revolution of 1910 started out as a revolt of the people led by Franciso Madero against the tyranny of Porfirio Diaz
 * Madero led the Anti-Reelectionist party against Diaz but was arrested and lost the presidential election
 * Madero later led a revolt with support from the United States, Zapata, and Villa and defeated Diaz
 * Once Madero took power his populist lost faith in him and faced uprisings from Zapata and felix Diaz
 * General Huerta then defeated both Diaz’s revolt and Madero and took power. Madero was executed 3 days after he resigned
 * Huerta was later removed by rebels and the United States
 * The revolution finally ended when Carranza defeated Zapata and Villa in another bloody war for power
 * all in all millions over 10% of the population was killed in the 6 years revolution
 * Spanish colonies all have histories of Caudillos which are politicians/ warlords that are backed by the military
 * during the 20th century Mexico had poor unification and many of the areas outside of mexico city were ruled by Caudillos and included areas like Oaxaza, Yucatan, Jalisco, and Zacatecas
 * some of the well known Caudillos included
 * others include Huerta, Villa, Carranza, Obregon,
 * their power came to an end when the PRI took power in 1929 and remained in power for 70 years
 * the power struggle in the late 20th century is a conflict between the old and the new, the Politicos and the Tecnicos
 * the PRI represent the Politicos who are politicians that are based around military, labor, and worked in the interior ministry
 * the new politician or tecnicos were represented by De la Madred and focused on business, economies, western educations, and worked in the economic ministry
 * progress has been slow for the tecnicos but as the world continues to globalize and Mexico develops economically their power will expand along with the economy
 * the tecnicos focus on democratic reform foreign markets, foreign investment, firing of bureaucrats, and liquidating private enterprises

Francisco Madero

**Instability and legitimacy issues (ELT)**
 * The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has been the party of power from is organization in 1929 to the the 1990’s
 * Under the PRI the government was truly corrupt. The corruption included spoil systems, mismanagement, racketeering, and embezzlement
 * Each out going president, known as a ano del hidalgo would reward those faithful to him with cushy political positions
 * Under De la Madrid who served from 1982 to 1988 the government turned itself around. De la Mardid made numerous crackdowns including:
 * arresting the minister of agriculture, the head of PEMEX which is the state run oil company, former police chief of Mexico City, and and members of the federal policy force for bribery, extortion, fraud, and murder.
 * Salinas served from 1988 to 1994 and continued the crack down on corruption even though his own election was seen as a fraud but h increased free elections while releasing hundreds of political prisoners
 * Zedillo served form 1994 to 2000 did even more than his predecessors for reform with corruption and both political and economic stability
 * the major of Mexico’s current instability is due to their inability to defeat the mexican drug cartels.
 * mexico has always had issues with drug trafficking and the crimes that go long with it like kidnapping and murder the problem has escalated in recent years
 * the mexican army is under prepared to handle the cartels and has sought assistance from the United States



-**National Identification** (the Mexican people are proud to Mexicans, there is a strong sense of pride in the nation)
 * // Political Culture: (AD and JC) //**



 Article: [] -Summary of Article: In this New Year’s address to the Mexican people, Felipe Calderon wishes his countrymen a prosperous and successful year in 2010, but also addresses his fellow countrymen about his belief that Mexico is on their way to being a successful and prosperous nation. While reading this article, it is obvious that Calderon is proud of his country, yet challenges himself and his countrymen to better a nation which has recently struggled because of violence as well as drug trafficking. His pride of his nation is evident; he believes that Mexico is a country which has a lot to work for, but is also a country which is made up of hard workers who are proud of their heritage and Mexican background.

-**Common Language, culture, and history** (the Mexican population is tied together through language. Almost the entire population speaks Spanish. The majority of Mexican population is //mestizo// or a Spanish-Indian mix, thus further uniting the population culturally and historically)



 Article: [] -Summary of Article: The Spanish language is a cultural aspect with which almost all Mexicans can identify with. In this article, it is explained that while on vacation in Mexico, tourists have the opportunity, if they so choose, to learn the Spanish language. This activity, though not taken advantage of by all who visit Mexico, shows that the Mexicans are proud of their language and culture.

-**Common Religion** (Catholicism, introduced by the Spaniards in the Colonial era)



 Article: [] -Summary of Article: The drug cartel which has recently gripped Mexico has affected all aspects of life in the country. Recently, a Catholic priest and two seminary students were killed by drug cartel hit men. The article goes on to state that since 2005, seven priests have been killed under violent circumstances. In addition, of the 15,000 priests in Mexico, 1,000 have been threatened in some way by traffickers. While religion holds a very important place in the culture and lifestyle found in Mexico, even Mexican clergymen are no longer safe from the aims of drug traffickers.

-**Economic Relationship with United States** (Mexico has always been under shadow of larger superpower --first Spain and now US-- Growing trend to become more independent)  Article: [] -Summary of Article: The US border patrol is erecting a fence in hopes of deterring immigration and stemming the inflow of Mexicans into San Diego. The new $57.7 million project will stretch across the Otay Mountains between San Diego and the Mexican border. Though the completion of the project has led to a decline in the inflow of immigrants, authorities are still anxious to see if the fence will deter immigrants during high economic times.

-**Authoritarian Trends** -Established by //Camarillas// (Camarillas are patron-client systems where a political boss-like figure establishes a support system of the population to maintain political power. The supporters pledge their votes in return for tangible benefits from the “boss”. This system fosters an authoritarian trend, in which power is held in few hands)

Article: [] -Summary of Article: While this article is mostly a description of a proposed package of electoral reforms suggested by current Mexican President Felipe Calderon featuring a reform that would allow Mexican politicians to seek reelection, it also addresses the issue of how elections affect the political bosses of Mexico. It is explained that if these reforms are approved, everyone in the country, including the political bosses who hold much political power over their constituents, will be greatly affected. Traditionally, the prohibition on re-election has been a great strength in helping political bosses maintain their power. If the re-election of political figures in Mexico is approved, it is expected that these political bosses will lose much of their authority.  Many consider Jose Murat to be a political boss

-**Geographic Factors** -Mountains and Deserts (rugged terrain has made communication between regions arduous. Also limits potential for agriculture. Regionalism is a major characteristic of the political system)



-Climate (wide variety of climates affects agriculture, a major institution of Mexico) -Natural Resources (Mexico is plentiful in oil, silver, and other natural resources) -Proximity to United States (immigration and dependency is more prevalent in regions close to the United States, thus adding to regionalism) -Urban environment and Population (Urban populations have been growing rapidly. Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world) Mexico City Article: [] -Summary of Article: This article summarizes the natural disasters which have affected and will continue to affect Mexico and its inhabitants. It is stated that Mexico City is prone to flooding, thanks to torrential rains which tend to plague the city during the summer month. In addition, the water supply here is in poor condition, considering the vast majority of people that need water. In addition, a lack of management of forests has put the forest cover in Mexico at risk. Mexico needs to act now if they wish to preserve their environment for the long-term future.

-**Subcultures:** -Parochial (Rural, don’t participate in politics, not integrated w/ rest of country, don’t speak Spanish well) -Subjects (majority of Mexicans, aware of gov’t actions but tolerate due to fact they know they can’t change gov’t. Typically older, less education, rural, lower class, female) -Pro-PRI group (supporters of the longtime governing party) -Anti-PRI group (opponents of the longtime governing party)

Article: [] -Summary of Article: Although taken from July 2009, this is an intriguing article which summarizes the results of the midterm elections in Mexico. The Institutional Revolutionary Party, perhaps the most popular political party in all of Mexico, emerged victorious in elections determining the lower legislative houses, as well as state and local political posts. President Felipe Calderon’s party, the National Action Party (PAN), won 28% of the vote, while the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), had 36.7% of the vote. The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), considered to be one of the three main political parties in Mexico along with PRI and PAN, won only 12.2% of the vote. PAN’s failure for victory in the elections is blamed on Calderon, and his current unpopularity with the Mexican people.