From revolution to transition: The Chiapas rebellion and the path to democracy in Mexico

Abstract

This presentation starts from the premise that the destabilizing impact of the events in Chiapas was not confined to the 1994 peasant uprising. Rather, the latter served as a catalyst that helped to accelerate the institutional changes that subsequently took off in Mexico, and led to the electoral defeat of the PRI regime. The breadth of this transformation, and the extent of mass support for political democratization, helped ensure that the peasant rebellion itself was not subjected to direct repression. Instead, channels of dialogue were established between the government and the rebels which, it is argued here, constitutes an unprecedented departure in the history of post-1968 armed movements in Mexico.