The shape of the future

Journal of Democracy

Volumn 8, Issue 4, 1997, Pages

  Bailey, John ^a,b   Valenzuela, Arturo ^a,c  

^a GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b Georgetown Mexico Project   (Mexico)

^c Center for Latin American Studies   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 18744421540     PISSN: 10455736     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (14)

1. A useful discussion of metaconstitutional powers and practices can be found in Luis Javier Garrido, "The Crisis of Presidencialismo," in Wayne A. Cornelius, Judith Gentleman, and Peter Smith, eds., Mexico's Alternative Political Futures (La Jolla: Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California at San Diego, 1989), 417-34.
2. On the effects of the no-reelection rule on legislative behavior, see Jeffrey A. Weldon, "El presidente como legislador: Las iniciativas del poder ejecutivo en la Cámara de Deputados, 1917-1934" (paper prepared for delivery at the Twentieth International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Guadalajara, Mexico, 17-19 April 1997).
3. In 1991, the PRI was able to reconcile strong central control and selection of electable candidates in its impressive rebound from the 1988 elections, when it barely retained its majority in the Chamber of Deputies. See Luis Donaldo Colosio, "Why the PRI Won the 1991 Elections," in Riordan Roett, ed., Political and Economic Liberalization in Mexico: At a Critical Juncture? (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 1993), 155-65. That strategy, however, was aided by government control over elections and by strong leadership in the presidency and PRI, and its success preceded the 1994-95 peso crisis and subsequent parade of scandals.
4. Jorge I. Domínguez and James A. McCann, Democratizing Mexico: Public Opinion and Electoral Choices (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), 11.
5. David Pantoja Moran, "Gobierno dividido en Mexico: El riesgo de la ineficiencia," Este País, June 1997, 5.
6. The alacrity with which the opposition united took the PRI by surprise, and the ability of opposition party leaders to use vague and conflicting provisions in the statutes governing the Chamber strengthened their hand in negotiations with the PRI and presidency.
7. Pantoja Moran, "Gobierno dividido en México," 6-10, has a useful brief discussion of legislative process.
8. The analysis done by the PRD's think tank suggests various points of convergence between the PRD and the PAN. See Instituto de Estudios de la Revolución Democrática, "La agenda legislativa, 1997: Grandes coincidencias," Coyuntura 79 (March-April 1997): 11-23.
9. See John Bailey, "Public Budgeting in Mexico, 1970-1982," Public Budgeting and Finance 3 (Spring 1984): 76-90.
10. Crime statistics are notoriously inaccurate, but the trends are clear for the country as a whole. "Between 1995 and 1996 the crime rate rose 6 percent in common crime and 17 percent in federal crime. Nonviolent robberies were up 13.2 percent, violent robbery up 5.6 percent, and bank robberies rose 12.6 percent. The incidence of crime per 100,000 inhabitants rose overall 9.3 percent." Reforma (Mexico City), 17 August 1997. The recent record in Mexico City is worse.
11. See Daniel Dombey, "Drug Killings Imperil Border Boom," Financial Times (London), 27 August 1997.
12. See Miriam Posada Garcia, "2,598 soldados vigilarán las calles del D.F." La Jornada (Mexico City), 28 February 1997, and Juan Antonio López, "Sólo temporal, la presencia militar," El Universal (Mexico City), 1 March 1997.
13. See Miriam Posada Garcia, "2,598 soldados vigilarán las calles del D.F." La Jornada (Mexico City), 28 February 1997, and Juan Antonio López, "Sólo temporal, la presencia militar," El Universal (Mexico City), 1 March 1997.
14. For the perhaps definitive comparative treatment of the transition process in Southern Europe, South America, and Postcommunist Europe, see Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996). The authors do not refer to the Mexican case.