Mexican Political Parties Research Articles

Partidos y sistema de partidos en las elecciones mexicanas de 2018

Este artículo analiza los cambios que afectaron a los partidos y al sistema de partidos mexicanos durante el sexenio del presidente Enrique Peña Nieto. Durante el periodo 2012-2018, asistimos a la erosión y, posteriormente, al derrumbe del sistema de tres grandes partidos, formado y consolidado durante el proceso de apertura política en México. Esa transformación puede apreciarse a partir de la evolución de las preferencias electorales, las crisis internas de los partidos y las modificaciones a la legislación electoral.

Energopolitics: Wind and Power in the Anthropocene by Dominic Boyer, and: Ecologics: Wind and Power in the Anthropocene by Cymene Howe, and: Renewing Destruction: Wind Energy, Conflict and Resistance in a Latin American Context by Alexander Dunlap

Reviewed by: Energopolitics: Wind and Power in the Anthropocene by Dominic Boyer, and: Ecologics: Wind and Power in the Anthropocene by Cymene Howe, and: Renewing Destruction: Wind Energy, Conflict and Resistance in a Latin American Context by Alexander Dunlap Anna G. Sveinsdóttir Dominic Boyer Energopolitics: Wind and Power in the Anthropocene. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019. ix + 257 pp. Maps, illustrations, notes, references, index. $25.95 paper (978-1-4780-0377-9); $99.95 cloth (978-1-4780-0313-7); $25.95 electronic (978-1-4780-0439-4). Cymene Howe Ecologics: Wind and Power in the Anthropocene. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019. ix + 250 pp. Illustrations, notes, references, index. $25.95 paper (978-1-4780-0385-4); $99.95 cloth (978-1-4780-0319-9); $25.95 electronic (978-1-4780-0440-0). Alexander Dunlap Renewing Destruction: Wind Energy, Conflict and Resistance in a Latin American Context. London: Rowan and Littlefield International Ltd, 2019. ix + 214 pp. Maps, tables, illustrations, notes, references, index. $39.95 paper (978-1-7866-1066-9); $120.00 cloth (978-1-7866-1065-2); $38.99 electronic (978-1-7866-1067-6). The promotion and development of wind energy is often framed as a solution to a wide range of urgent, contemporary challenges, ranging from economic growth and national development to mitigating global climate change and social inequality. Expansion of wind parks often takes place in rural areas where it is understood to result in lower environmental costs and improvement of social conditions. However, these patterns of wind energy development are increasingly contested as they transform rural landscapes and reshape livelihoods. This raises questions not only about who bears the burden of expanding and changing energy systems, but also the capacity of different energy technologies and infrastructural arrangements to reproduce social power and shape political and economic outcomes. The three works discussed in this review all delve into these questions by examining wind power in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca, Mexico, a region that has seen some of the most ambitious plans for massive and concentrated wind power development anywhere in the world over the last decade—plans that have generated new conflicts and counter-movements. Wind and Power in the Anthropocene by Cymene Howe and Dominic Boyer is a duograph that consists of two [End Page 347] jointly published single-authored volumes, Ecologics by Howe and Energopolitics by Boyer. The two volumes draw from a shared fieldwork experience and the same research material while elaborating distinct analysis and interests. The duograph, which shares a preface and conclusion, can be read in a playful manner and the authors encourage the reader "explore the duograph as you like, settling into the groove of one narrative or zigzagging between them" (p. xvii). The duograph is an interesting and novel way to approach collaborative writing, which I enjoyed engaging with. In Energopolitics, Dominic Boyer leverages the case of Mexican wind power to theorize the relationship between energy and power in the context of the Anthropocene. Energopolitics consists of two components: an ethnography of wind power in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and a conceptual framework for an anthropological theory of political power in the Anthropocene. Together the two components illustrate how energy and fuel shape political power, in what Boyer and Howe refer to as aeolian politics. Energopolitics elegantly brings together political theory and ethnography. Particularly exciting is Boyer's concept of energopower, where he draws inspiration from Timothy Mitchell and Hermann Scheer to address some of the inattentiveness of Marxist and Foucauldian theory to the "energo-material contributions of fuel and electricity to political power" (p.5). However, Energopolitics is more than just political theory. Boyer stresses the importance of including the analytic work of history and ethnography when trying to understand the politics of wind power. The aeolian politics of southern Mexico, argues Boyer, include a deep history of colonial resource extraction, contested history of land tenure, the complex caciquismo (boss politics) specific to that region. They include clientelist networks and corporatist machinations of the Mexican political parties, as well as diverse opposition movements. There are also the historical tensions between Mexico City and Oaxaca City, between Oaxaca City and the Isthmus...

How Do Remittances Shape Electoral Strategies Back Home? Evidence from Mexico’s 2006 Presidential Election

ABSTRACTHow does international migration affect political parties’ electoral strategies in the sending countries? This article argues that remittances help political parties decide whom to target during elections. Drawing from theories of vote targeting and those on the effects of remittances, this study addresses how political parties’ electoral strategies follow the specific characteristics of remittance recipients. Using individual-level data from Mexico’s 2006 presidential elections, the results show that receiving remittances had a significant impact on experiencing electoral targeting, especially by the then-incumbent PAN. This study reveals the importance of remittances in shaping the strategies of Mexican political parties.

El nuevo régimen de transparencia y acceso a la información aplicable a partidos políticos

Las reformas constitucionales de 2014 en materias político electoral y de transparencia son armónicas y convergen estratégicamente en un esquema de apertura al incorporar a los partidos políticos como sujetos obligados directos de transparencia. Este artículo analiza la aplicación de este nuevo régimen, ya que, hasta el momento, no se ha otorgado certeza jurídica sobre la concepción de los partidos políticos como sujetos obligados, lo que afecta la garantía del derecho fundamental de acceso a la información. En este sentido, se evidencia el problema jurídico que existe debido al diseño estructural de la legislación en materia de transparencia y su aplicación. Esto se debe a que, por un lado, el mismo partido político con registro nacional se considera como sujeto obligado de manera diferente a nivel federal y estatal, y, por el otro, existe una doble competencia de los organismos garantes para conocer los recursos de revisión, en el caso de la participación de los partidos políticos nacionales en el ámbito estatal.

Gender and Belonging: The Political Engagement of Mexican Migrant Leaders in Chicago

The article explores differences in the motivation for political engagement in a transnational context according to gender. The underlying ethnographic research reveals that the majority of Chicago’s Mexican migrant leaders – male and female – are simultaneously engaged in various political and civil society organisations; they are not only members of hometown associations and Mexican political parties, but also participate in nationwide US Latino organisations, immigrant organisations, human rights organisations and even in Mexican and US government institutions. In the article the political trajectories of four Mexican migrant leaders from Chicago are presented in short biographical portraits. The biographical approach shows the difference in life experience that formed these male and female leaders. For the men the motivation to become politically engaged is rooted in the sentiment of belonging to and being recognised in a community of origin. Therefore, male migrant leaders are deeply involved in community politics in Mexico. The motivation of the female leaders presented here is different: for them the recognition in their community and country of origin is not as important as it is for the men. Their political motivation is based much more on the feeling of belonging to the migrant community in Chicago and on improving their living conditions in the United States. Their concerns are fair conditions in everyday life in the United States – in education, health care and at work, as well as in terms of immigration status or with respect to gender equality in migrant organisations.

Negative Advertisements and Voter Turnout: The Evidence from Mexico

Despite abundant research in the field of negative campaigns, there is still inconclusive evidence about their effects on voter turnout. Additionally, the extant literature has focused mostly on the United States and more research is needed to understand the effects of negative campaigns in other contexts. In 2007, Mexican political parties amended the Constitution and banned the use of negative advertisements as a measure to avoid a “further damage to electoral participation,” despite arguments that this measure might impair freedom of speech. In this article, I hypothesize that the effects of negative advertisements on turnout are negligible in the Mexican case because it can be characterized as a fairly institutionalized multiparty system. Using a post-electoral survey of the 2006 presidential election in Mexico, I find that negative advertisements do not seem to have had an impact on turnout.

Unusual Bedfellows? PRI-PVEM Electoral Alliances in Mexican Legislative Elections

We examine the electoral alliances between two Mexican political parties – the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) and the Partido Verde Ecologista de México (PVEM). Despite the PRI's electoral dominance, it has entered into preelection agreements with the PVEM since 2003. These electoral pacts are unusual for several reasons: the parties do not share an ideology; their bases of support come from different social sectors; and the PRI's survival as a party does not depend on these pacts. Using electoral data from 2006 to 2015, we examine the electoral districts in which the PRI and the PVEM ran joint candidates in federal legislative elections. We find that the ultimate goals of each party, their past electoral performances at the legislative district level, and the presence of PRI-PVEM alliances in gubernatorial elections explain the parties’ choices to collaborate in certain districts. Our findings have important implications for understanding the behavior of parties in newer democracies.

El uso estratégico de la publicidad política de ataque en la elección federal intermedia de 2015 en México

In professionalized election campaigns, political parties and/or candidates present their policy proposals to the electorate and seek to maximize votes, primarily, through media appeals. The purpose of this paper is to content-analyze all media appeals (30 second spots) broadcasted by Mexican political parties during the 2015 mid-term congressional elections, in order to identify their campaign strategies. The results show an increasing level of professionalization and centralization of media-based electoral strategies. They also show that attack ads were a central component of parties and candidates media strategies during the campaign.

Identificación partidaria de los jóvenes mexicanos en el proceso electoral 2012

Studying the electoral behavior of citizens helps to understand the continuity and change of the political processes. Due to their considerable share of the electoral roll and the characteristics of their electoral participation, the study of Mexican youths is fundamental to understand the processes of political change in the country. Based on data provided by the Encuesta Nacional sobre Cultura Política de los Jóvenes 2012, this work explores the various components that affect the political party identity of young people living in Mexican metropolitan areas in the context of the federal election under study. This paper describes the weight of each of the elements shaping the relationship between 18 to 29-year-old citizens and the Mexican political parties. Following a correspondence analysis and statistical modelling of the main variables that influence the formation of political attitudes, an empirical approach to understand the construction of youths’ party identification is offered.

Los partidos políticos ante la reforma petrolera en México

This paper intends to establish the position of the three major mexican political parties on the oil reform, in order to assess the ideological distance existing between them. The legislative proposals presented by these parties in 2008 show diverging initial positions. However, the approval, in that same year, of the oil reform package and, above all, the agreement concluded within the framework of the Pacto por Mexico, reveal a process of growing alignment with regard to measures that focus on enhancing the private enterprise involvement in the sector.

Resultados electorales y perspectivas 2012. Reposicionamientos partidistas

In this paper the author studies problems, challenges, and opportunities of Mexican political parties after 2012 elections. The hypothesis is that the process seems to point out the end of the electoral era, characterizing the country since 1988, this idea is sustained through data and the following up of events which show the resulting forces correlation.

A broken Mexico: allegations of collusion between the Sinaloa cartel and Mexican political parties

The Mexican drug war, in full swing since December 2006, has now claimed more than 40,000 lives. Dozens of high-level cartel operatives have been captured or killed, yet the leadership of one cartel, from Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico, has remained apparently untouched. The apparent lack of a crackdown on the Sinaloa Cartel has spurred criticisms of the Calderón administration, as well as US authorities aiding in the drug fight – some critics contend that the Sinaloa Cartel has enjoyed protection from the authorities. The Sinaloa Cartel's history of protection and collusion by authorities goes back a long way – during the reign of the PRI from 1929 to 2000, Sinaloa's drug traffickers were allowed to operate with near-total impunity. But mounting evidence – captures and deaths of high-level operatives from Sinaloa as well as arrests of relatives of the leadership – suggests that the claims of collusion against the current Mexican administration are false.

Fox's Mexico: Same as It Ever Was?

Since the arrival of Vicente Fox to the presidency, Mexico has been stuck in neutral. The executive has been characterized by confusion, indecision, and repeated policy mistakes. Mexican political parties have shown a striking inability to adjust their behavior to the new democratic political environment. And Mexicans of all stripes remain steeped in an authoritarian culture that has prevented them from embracing the political opportunities offered by Mexico's new democratic setting.