Democratization and Authoritarian Party Survival
Mexico’s Party of the Institutional Revolution (PRI) held executive power continuously from 1929 to 2000, when its candidate suffered a shocking defeat in the presidential elections. This study, which covers the years 1980–2012, uses an institutional focus to understand why the PRI survived its defeat and loss of the resources of the executive bureaucracy to return victoriously after two six-year terms out of office. The book offers a model of the difficulties authoritarian parties must face after they are ousted from the executive through fair and free elections: the danger of dramatic fractures that could destroy the party and the possibility of mass voter rejection. The institutional context of Mexico allowed the party’s factions to continue to cooperate and win elections. Mexico is a federal, presidential regime with a two-tiered electoral system, with no consecutive reelection and generous public party funding. The PRI changed dramatically in organizational terms as its directly elected state governors became power brokers within the party (though governors cannot be reelected). Yet, because of the nation’s electoral rules, the national party office remained a central player, both in party and national politics. The national party headquarters continued to mount an important response to the new government’s executive and coordinated the party’s legislators in Congress. The institutional context played a crucial role in creating spaces for both factions (the governors and the national party) and allowing them to cooperate. The former hegemonic party did not, however, develop a consistent ideology or try to purge itself of its clientelist or corrupt practices, because the governors had no authority strong enough to force them the change their conduct.