Traversing the Mexican Odyssey: Reflections on Political Change and the Study of Mexican Politics

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-188
Author(s):  
Mark Eric Williams

This essay explains how the peculiar properties of Mexico's political system helped shape the approach to the study of Mexican politics. It assesses some of the strengths and limitations of the scholarship this produced, examines the political changes that fueled Mexico's democratic transition, and assesses their implications both for Mexico's recent market reforms and the study of Mexican politics in general. It finds that the demise of single-party rule and fundamental changes in patterns of governance have opened new research avenues, and suggests an emerging research agenda in light of these developments. En este ensayo se explica la manera en que las propiedades peculiares del sistema políítico mexicano ayudaron a configurar el acercamiento al estudio de la políítica mexicana. Se valoran algunas de las ventajas y las desventajas en este enfoque, se examinan los cambios polííticos que influyeron en la transicióón democráática mééxicana y se analizan sus implicaciones en las reformas recientes del mercado y estudio de la políítica mexicana en general. El anáálisis concluye que, debido al cese de influencia del antiguo réégimen del partido oficial y a los cambios fundamentales en los modelos de gobierno, se han abierto nuevas ááreas de investigacióón, proponiendo un nuevo programa de investigacióón que tome en cuenta el giro de los nuevos acontecimientos.

2009 ◽  
pp. 27-42
Author(s):  
Jean Lpuis Briquet

- According to the standard thesis, the political crisis in Italy between 1992 and 1994 and the collapse of the Christian Democrat regime are related to the revelation of corruption of the political elite by the judiciary. However, judicial revelations and corruption scandals have regularly occurred in Italy, before and after this crisis, without provoking a drastic political change and the reject of the political system by the electorate. Considering this paradox, the article suggests an alternate account of the 1992-1994 events that underline the way in which the political competition had been affected by the scandals: the moral crusades against corruption had in this period a political impact because they had been relayed and supported by emerging political actors in order to challenge the established elites and to claim a leading role in reshaping the political system.


Author(s):  
Mohammed Saleh Shattib

The research have focused on the ramifications of the" 25 January  revolution" on the Egyptian constitution and how the masses in which participated in the revolution  aimed a rapid democratic transition through the writing of a new constitution  in order to be inevitable document leading to their salvation from authoritarianism and false constitutions that had become outmoded.      Although the Egyptian constitutional experience,   From the wording perspective,  have many positive aspects; but the process of drafting is requiring consensus  about constitution, basically agree on the basic philosophy in which the Constitution is based on, or the purpose of drafting the Constitution itself,  at the same time,  the goal is absent from the Egyptian experience. Also, the political factions that carried the banner of change after the" 25 January  revolution" was not able to answer the following question: What is the purpose of drafting a new constitution to replacing "the 1971 Constitution"?. This situations led to the intensification of division and conflict among factions, in addition, excluded the most important  political faction.


Author(s):  
Noella Edelmann ◽  
Peter Cruickshank

This chapter looks at e-petitioning as a successful application of e-participation from a psychological perspective. It notes that e-participation should not be viewed uncritically, as digital technologies cannot remedy all (political) problems: indeed, they can strengthen old ones and create new ones. Following a brief reviews of socio-economic and application-acceptance models of e-participation, a small selection of psychological approaches factors are presented that could be applied to this context. It is argued that it is useful and important to understand the psychological factors that influence the decisions made by individuals about whether to participate in the political system by initiating, or simply signing, a petition, or choose to remain mere passive observers, no matter how well informed. These insights can both help practitioners designing an e-participation system, and designing new research projects.


1970 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan B. Forrester

A Complex stratified polity such as that of India, containing a variety of political cultures and a great diversity of political structure, inevitably produces a multitude of styles of political behaviour. Such styles may be the product of different political cultures and processes of recruitment and training, and they interact with each other in significant ways. In particular, the new integrated political system encourages what I call the ‘percolation of style’ from one stratum of the system to another. The percolating process flows in two-ways—from the national arena to the local, and vice versa—and the process itself affects the nature of political styles. A style which was appropriate and effective in one arena will need adaptation if it is to meet the distinctive challenges of a different stratum in the political system. Percolation thus involves modification of style, and the whole process may be viewed as the gradual development of new styles responsive to the demands of new situations. Inevitably this leads to multitudinous tensions, destructive or creative, but the process is thus an integral part of political change and an understanding of stylistic percolation is an important key to the understanding of the nature and direction of political development.


1972 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 613-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian P. Potholm

A great deal has been written about the political system of the Republic of South Africa. The ethnic, linguistic and racial differences of its population, the complex and convoluted history of its political antecedents, the strength and productivity of its economy, its strategic location (both in terms of geography and transaction flows), the inequities of its social and political system, and above all, the seeming uncertainty of its future have fascinated observers of its past and present. The volume of material is impressive; however, because many of the works dealing with South Africa are highly personal or partisan in character or essentially descriptive in nature, they are generally of only marginal or transitory importance to any fundamental understanding of its political system. Moreover, there remain substantial blank spots on our cognitive map of South Africa, and many of the more critical aspects of its situation have been ignored or given the most superficial of treatments.


Author(s):  
María Inclán

This chapter analyzes the development of the Zapatista cycle of protests from 1994 to 2003 in relation to the political opportunities opened to the movement during Mexico’s democratic transition. In particular, it describes to what extent Zapatista protest activity was affected by the four traditional dimensions identified in the literature of political opportunity: (1) negotiating periods, as well as changes in power as signs of openings in the political system at the local and national levels; (2) the timing and competitiveness of elections as measures of the relative vulnerability of political elites; (3) the presence of a potential political ally in power; and (4) the Mexican state’s capacity for repression. The chapter compares the explanatory power of these factors to another factor that the literature has highlighted as a crucial variable for mobilization, namely the availability of a network of preexisting organizations.


1993 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Pierson

As governmental activity has expanded, scholars have been increasingly inclined to suggest that the structure of public policies has an important influence on patterns of political change. Yet research on policy feedback is mostly anecdotal, and there has so far been little attempt to develop more general hypotheses about the conditions under which policies produce politics. Drawing on recent research, this article suggests that feedback occurs through two main mechanisms. Policies generate resources and incentives for political actors, and they provide those actors with information and cues that encourage particular interpretations of the political world. These mechanisms operate in a variety of ways, but have significant effects on government elites, interest groups, and mass publics. By investigating how policies influence different actors through these distinctive mechanisms, the article outlines a research agenda for moving from the current focus on illustrative case studies to the investigation of broader propositions about how and when policies are likely to be politically consequential.


1971 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 129-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Bruce Jacobs

The winds of political change in Taiwan have begun to breathe. In some areas, turnover within the leadership is substantial and the new incumbents are generally both younger and better educated than their predecessors. While Mainlanders, especially those from the Lower Yangtze Valley, dominate the political system, explicit and not insignificant steps are being taken to increase Taiwanese participation. Changes in the status of Chiang Ching-kuo, eldest son of President Chiang Kai-shek, give further indications of his preparation for eventual supreme leadership. A group of intelligent, well-educated and relatively young technical experts have moved into top leadership positions and are having a substantial impact on policy-making. Against this background, constraints on political dissent continue. This article is an attempt to investigate these trends and analyse their importance for the political system on Taiwan. In order to provide the framework for this discussion, the article begins with a brief introduction to the political setting, the central party and governmental organs.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172199997
Author(s):  
Eva Sørensen ◽  
Christopher Ansell

How effective are different political institutions, policy-making processes and policies when it comes to mediating, mitigating and managing vertical and horizontal political tensions caused by disruptive societal challenges and political polarization? The present crisis for liberal democracy places this question high on the research agenda. A concept of political robustness is helpful for identifying the properties of political systems with a strong capacity for coping with political instability and conflict. This article defines political robustness, draws the contours of a conceptual framework for analysis of the political robustness of political systems and applies it illustratively to the political robustness of liberal democracies. We propose that the robustness of a political system depends on how much those who voice political demands—which differs greatly over time and between regimes—are involved in aggregating and integrating political demands into binding decisions.


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