Economic and Political Change of the United Mexican States

Danielle EldariniJake kalik

Colonialism 1519-1821• From 1519-1821 Spain controlled the area

that is now Mexico, placing their subjects in an elaborate social status hierarchy. It left several enduring influences such as:-Cultural Heterogeneity, which means that even though status differences between natives and Spanish were clearly drawn, the populations mixed. Today, about 60% of all Mexicans are mestizo, or mixed Amerindian and Spanish blood.-Spanish catholic priests settled far and wide as they converted the population to Christianity. They set up missions that became population centers and despite status differences, they developed attachments to the people they led.-Economic dependency: the territory controlled by Spain was so vast that the Spanish never realized the extent of Mexico’s natural resources

Independence 1821• After an 11 year rebellion led by a

Mexican Parish priest Miguel Hidalgo, Spain finally recognized Mexico’s independence in 1821. Stability and order didn’t follow independence with a total of 36 presidents serving between 1833 and 1855. -Reorganizing the government became a difficult task when the Spanish took their hierarchy with them when they left. This resulted in instability and illegitimacy within the Mexican government.-The instability of the government invited military control.

Independence (cont’d)

-The United States chose to challenge Mexican land claims. The US declared war in 1841, and by 1855 Mexico had lost half it’s territory to the them.-Liberals and Conservatives continued their struggle over issues of political and economic order. The constitution of 1857 incorporated many of the goals of the liberals like a democratic government, bill of rights, and limitation on the power of the Catholic Church. This did NOT guarantee stability in the government. -Mexican Independence Day celebration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWAY4OiztzE

The “Porfiriato Era” 1876-1911

• Porfiriato Diaz staged a military coup in 1876 and instituted himself as president of Mexico.

• He ended up ruling for 34 years with an iron hand.

• The Porfiriato Era brought:-Stability in the Mexican government.-Authoritarianism. There was only a sharing of power among a political elite. -Foreign investment and economic growth swelled. Cientificos, or Diaz’s science-based technocrats, encouraged entrepreneurship and foreign investment resulting in a growth of business and industry.

Chaotic Start to the 20th Century• The Revolution of 1910 brought the

end of the “Porifiriato Era”. • The revolution began when Diaz tried

to block the presidential elections, but eventually caused him to abdicate.

• During this time:-Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa arose

to popularity.-The new Constitution of 1917 set up a

structure for a democratic government.

-Conflicts with the Catholic Churcharose.

-PRI FOUNDED, and with influence from Lazaro Cardenas, its leaders set up sexinos- the leaders of the PRI would

take six-year rotations as president and limited to only one term. The sexino is still in place today.

The Cardenas Upheaval-the Presidency of Lazaro Cardenas

1934-1940• Elite control of the government

was maintained during the 1930s.• Under the leadership of

Cardenas, peasants and urban workers succeeded for the first time in pressing their claims for land and higher wages.

• The result of this was an unprecedented wave of strikes, protests, and petitions for breaking up large rural estates.

The Cardenas Upheaval (cont’d)• Most disputes between labor and management during this period

were settled in favor of the workers, all thanks to government pressure.

• Cardenas’s administration redistributed more than twice as much land as that collected by Cardenas’s predecessors since 1915.

• By the end of Cardenas’s term, the countries land tenure system had been fundamentally changed, breaking the traditional domination of the large haciendas and creating a large sector of ejidatarios, or small peasant farmers, who received land under the agrarian program.

• The Cardenas government nationalized oil companies that had been operation in Mexico under United States and British ownership, which caused a strain on foreign relations between the countries.

The Cardenas Upheaval (cont’d)• The Cardenas era fundamentally reshaped Mexico’s political

institutions. -The presidency became the primary institution of the political system,

with sweeping powers exercised during a constitutionally limited six year term with no possibility of reelection.-The military was removed from overt political competition and transformed into one of several institutional pillars of the regime.-An elaborate network of government-sponsored peasant and labor

organizations provided a mass base for the official political party and performed a variety of political and economic control functions using a multilayered system of patron-clientelism.

The Politics of Rapid Development1940-1982

• Cardenas had directed a radical reshuffling of political power in Mexico during his sexino.

• His successors were able to use the institutions he created to counteract his reforms.

• Miguel Aleman rejected most of Cardenas socialist reforms and set Mexico on a path of economic development through economic liberalization, encouraging entrepreneurships and foreign investment.

The Politics of Rapid Development (cont’d)

• Ambitious local and regional party leaders and leaders of peasants’ and workers’ groups began to use their organizations as pawns in exchange for political favors.

• Gradually, the PRI developed a huge patronage machine, providing union and ejido leaders with jobs, land, and other benefits in return for delivering their followers’ political support.

• The patron-clientelism system became the cement that built loyalty to the PRI and the political system in general.

• This kind of political control enabled post-Cardenas presidents to reorient the country’s development away from egaltarianism toward a development strategy in which the state actively encouraged industrialization and accumulation of wealth.

The Politics of Rapid Development (cont’d)

• At first, industrialization created jobs and made available a wide range of basic consumer goods to Mexico’s burgeoning population.

• By the 1970s, however, industrial development were no longer generating rapid growth and could not keep pace with the rapidly rising demand for jobs.

Crisis and Reform 1982-2001

• New policies were put into place to limit the government’s role in the economy and to make it easier for Mexican producers to export their goods.

• This period clearly marked the beginning of a new effort to integrate Mexico more fully into the global economy.

North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA)

• In 1993, Mexico, the United States, and Canada signed NAFTA which committed the three nations to the elimination of the trade barriers.

• Mexico’s policymakers signaled the extent to which they envisioned that the future prosperity of their country would be linked to that of its two neighbors to the north.

Election of 2000• For more than seven decades, the PRI

dominated the government of Mexico.• That all came to end when in 1996, the

PRI lost its absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies, the equivalent of our House of Representatives.

• Since then, the Congress has shown increasing dynamism as a counterbalance to the presidency, demanding unrestricted information, and initiating new legislation.

• In addition, opposition parties won important governorships and mayorships.

• In 2000, Vincent Fox Quesada won the presidential election. He was the first non-PRI president in seven decades.

Current Event

• Lately, there has been some upheaval about what the new President, Enrique Peña Nieto, will have to deal with in his first years about the drug war.