Democratic Transitions: Latin America
Magaloni’s The Demise of Mexico’s One-Party Dominant Regime provides an insight into the breakdown of one of the strongest autocratic groups in history, the Mexican Partido Revoucionario Institucional (PRI), as well as the creation of democracy in the Mexican government. For nearly seventy years, the PRI was essentially the only political party due to their force and coercion, but in the 90’s that change as the Mexican government pushed for democracy which resulted in moderately fair elections.
The PRI control was so successful due in part to the powerful political elites as well as the significant electoral support. Over the course of the PRI’s seventy year control, the support they received was the main reason why they were successful. That being said, why would they willingly support the switch to democracy when they already had the results they wanted? Did they agree because they were losing support or did they want a legitimate system? The answer to that is lies in the 1988 Presidential Election, which also happened to be the point where Mexico first experienced democracy. The 1988 election turned out to be completely fraudulent, and the opposing party to the PRI rejected the results. The reason I believe fraud occurred is because the PRI was continuously losing support, making it the only way they could actually with the election. In order to legitimize the future elections, the government implemented the Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE), a massive step towards removing the authoritarian system and implementing a democracy.
Mexico’s democratization process took many years to develop due to the speculation of fraud, but everything changed with the implementation of the IFE. As Magaloni stated in the article, “Democracy cannot be enforced… it must be self-enforcing.” The IFE simply acted in a way that prevented the fraud from occur, not enforcing democracy. As we see in the United States, the Federal Elections Committee does a similar task. They simply oversee spending and finances from each party to ensure that we see a fair election. Was Mexico officially a democracy now that they had the IFE to ensure fair elections?
The late 1990’s going into the 2000’s was actually the turning point for democratization in Mexico. Most of the people saw this as the actual implementation of democracy because of the fact that the election was accepted by both parties as well as the media. Lastly, Magaloni stated, “Institutions matter in the establishment of democracy as long as there are real political forces to back them up.” Without the monitoring institutions such as the IFE and the FEC, the possibility of authoritarian rule occurring again becomes possible.
I also wrote about the PRI. I found it very interesting that a single party could remain in power for 70 years. Transition of power is a trait of true democracy, and even though free and fair elections were carried out the lack of power transition made the PRI look a lot like an oligarchy.
One of the most fascinating parts of the PRI’s history is that they returned to power in the 2000s after accepting defeat the decade before. It is surprisingly that this happened and happened legitimately as many times the opposing party will rewrite the rules favoring itself once it gains power. A true functioning democracy needs more than one dominant political party, and Mexico has strongly stayed on this democratic path in the aftermath of the PRI’s fall in 1988.
One interesting point also to discuss is how during the PRI’s reign of power, everything seemed mostly legitimate. They used coercion quietly to keep power, until it became too widely noticed. Places today with only one party include Russia and China–we all know they are far from democratic.
On a side note about Mexican politics, it will be a fascinating election upcoming with the anti-American canddiate, Obrador, fairing quite well in polls largely in reaction to Mr. Trump’s anti-Mexican rhetoric.
I especially like the point Magaloni stated “Democracy cannot be enforced…it must be self-enforcing…”. Institutions like IFE can not stop the PRI fraud unless PRI themselves are willing to accept this result even if they don not want it. However, the hardest part is how to make them obey the rule. Interest can be a good point to start. If PRI realizes breaking the institutional rule will do no good for them they they will choose to obey. Also I think people’s pressure can also be a good way to push democracy but this requires enough information publicity and a proper way to release.