Mexican Economic and Fiscal Policies to Sustain Political Stability

During the 1980s, Mexico was in a state of crisis. Its economic prosperity collapsed in 1982, and its political system almost self-destructed in 1988. Yet by 1994, the economy was once again growing and the party that had ruled the country since 1929 appeared poised to win the national election of August 1994, despite the traumatic assassination of the ruling party candidate for president. How did the Mexican regime do it? This article examines the role of economic policies in restoring the fortunes of the Mexican regime.     

Who opposes government arts funding?

While the reasons for the controversy overpublic arts funding are well-understood,less clear is the set of variables thatassociates with strong opposition orsupport for arts subsidies. Using data fromthe General Social Survey, this paperbuilds a model to predict opposition basedon ideological, economic, and demographiccharacteristics. The most importantpredictors of opposition are found to bepolitical views, gender, income, privatedonations to the arts, and region ofresidence. The results in this papersuggest that the benefits of public artsfunding accrue primarily to those in thehighest income class, and that supportvaries somewhat according to the level ofgovernment providing the funding. ``The far right is waging a war for the soulof America by making art a partisan issue.And by trying to cut these arts programs,which bring culture, education, and joyinto the lives of ordinary Americans, theyare hurting the very people they claim torepresent.'' Barbra Streisand, in a speech delivered atHarvard University (1995) The National Endowment for the Arts hasbecome a play thing ... for an elitegroup. Newt Gingrich, in an interview on C-SPAN(Lamb, 1994)     

“A Bureaucratic Trap:” Free,Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and Wind Energy Development in Juchitán,Mexico

ABSTRACT

On November 2014, the first Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) consultation was called for the Eólica del Sur wind project in Juchitán de Zaragoza, Mexico. Lasting eight months, the consultation was responding not only to the UN International Labor Organization’s (ILO) convention 169 that Mexico signed in 1990 but also to widespread uprisings against wind energy projects in the region. This article begins with an FPIC literature review, followed by sections examining the consultation in Juchitán, its spatial layout, the actors involved and its repressive atmosphere. The subsequent section analyzes the discursive techniques deployed by the FPIC technical committee (TC) which—despite unanswered questions and popular opposition to the wind energy project—granted project approval on 30 June 2015. The final section concludes that the FPIC consultation undermines Indigenous autonomy and serves as a counter-insurrectionary device, reinforcing a context of substantial political and economic asymmetry between state, corporate and elite interest and Indigenous fishermen and farmers. The FPIC consultation in Juchitán reinforced state power and simultaneously serves as a marketing platform for development projects, thereby creating an illusion of real dialogue, negotiation and, by extension, democratic decision making. Despite efforts to have the wind project approved, resistance groups’ temporarily halted construction.     

Service Efforts and Accomplishments Standards: Fundamental Questions of an Emerging Concept

In 1994, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) adopted and published Concepts Statement No. 2, Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting} Although service efforts and accomplishments (SEA) is not a common term, this statement establishes the foundation for the subsequent adoption of reporting requirements that may expand the boundaries of reporting to significantly increase the amount of non-financial information that states and municipalities will report, as well as the cost of external reporting Budget analysts are among prospective users of SEA information. A study of comment letters filed in response to the exposure draft, which preceded Concepts Statement No. 2, shows two divergent views of SEA reporting requirements.2 Support for SEA reporting requirements is grounded in a vision of the potential benefits of SEA reporting;3 opposition to SEA standards is grounded in concerns about potential consequences of instituting reporting requirements.4 The strength of opposition to SEA reporting requirements suggests that consideration of the rationale for standards setting is appropriate. In this article, commonly expressed concerns about reporting requirements are incorporated into five questions. Analysis of these questions evidences the weakness of the rationale for SEA standards as distinguished from the rationale for voluntary SEA reporting. Two proposals are advanced to address concerns about SEA reporting requirements. First, adoption of models of information use from the disciplines of public administration and political science is encouraged. Second, modification of the standard setting process to reflect the non-financial domain of SEA is advocated. Thus, it is proposed that standard setters adopt approaches that emphasize cross-disciplinary research, cooperation with other organizations, and active extension of due process to new stakeholders.     

Resistance from Within: Why Mexico's Attempt to Advance an Active Foreign Policy Failed

After becoming the first opposition candidate to win since 1910, President Vicente Fox kindled expectations at both national and international levels. He claimed he would enhance significantly the scope of the Mexico's foreign policy and engage the country in international politics in a way more befitting of its newly acquired democratic status. Nevertheless, little consideration was given to the fact that for many decades foreign policy in Mexico had been deployed to create an area screened‐off from domestic politics where conflicting factions were brought together and a policy consensus worked out. That consensus was sufficiently ample for the authoritarian elite, given its foreign policy goals and principles. It would, however, fail to suffice for any political leader willing to step outside the box of tradition. Fox did just that. In consequence, widespread reactions of disapproval from key political actors and the media led the president to settle for a more modest international agenda in 2002. This article explores the key processes that triggered so much internal resistance to Fox's foreign policy designs. I argue that these processes underpin what continues to be the essentially autarchic nature and scope of the Mexican foreign policy tradition. Such an autarchic approach is glorified in Mexican political rhetoric, yet has led to many lost opportunities for Mexico. Most importantly, I stress that the Mexican foreign policy tradition discourages and forecloses the kind of engagement in the international arena that seeks to share in rather than to free‐ride the collective efforts of the international community to procure security and peace. So despite its new democratic status, Mexico remains more of a spectator than an actor on the international stage.     

The relationship between government and opposition in the bundestag and house of commons in the run‐up to the Maastricht Treaty

This article analyses modes of interaction between government and opposition in the German Bundestag and the British House of Commons in the run‐up to the Maastricht Treaty, and the implications of co‐operation or a lack thereof for the parties involved. The article is based on the premise that the government—opposition relationship is not derived solely from power relationships and institutional factors, but is also a matter of democratic legitimacy. Three indicators are used to ascertain the level of government—opposition co‐operation: the creation of parliamentary committees, information exchange and incentive management. Based on an institutional analysis and interviews with legislators, the finding is that although parties in Germany and the UK have created parliamentary committees dealing with European affairs, only in the former did the government utilise the new tool for co‐operation with the opposition, in terms of information exchange and incentive management. Consequently, informal co‐operation in Germany brought about an outcome compatible with the interests of the parties involved. By contrast, the lack of co‐operation with opposition parties in Britain led to an extreme parliamentary crisis.     

Public Opposition To The Siting Of The High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository: The Importance Of Trust

This paper examines several dimensions of public opposition to the proposed siting of the high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. In order to provide a context for the public's views of the repository in metropolitan Clark County, both governmental studies of the repository siting process are analyzed, as well as elements of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. This analysis suggests that one potentially key component of the public's opposition to the siting, as well as their perceptions of risk of the facility, may be the result of a lack of trust in the Department of Energy. Empirical analysis of survey data collected in Nevada in 1988 confirms the strong relationship between political trust and repository risk perceptions.     

The End of the PRI in Mexico?

The article examines the outcome of the 1997 mid-term elections in Mexico and the new political dynamics thereby generated, and asks to what extent they portend the end of the longest-surviving single-party government in the world, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Explanations for the PRI's dramatic decline in 1997 are explored, and an assessment is made of the strength of the principal opposition parties.     

Actor Fragmentation and Civil War Bargaining: How Internal Divisions Generate Civil Conflict

Wars within states have become much more common than wars between them. A dominant approach to understanding civil war assumes that opposition movements are unitary, when empirically, most of them are not. I develop a theory for how internal divisions within opposition movements affect their ability to bargain with the state and avoid conflict. I argue that more divided movements generate greater commitment and information problems, thus making civil war more likely. I test this expectation using new annual data on the internal structure of opposition movements seeking self‐determination. I find that more divided movements are much more likely to experience civil war onset and incidence. This analysis suggests that the assumption that these movements are unitary has severely limited our understanding of when these disputes degenerate into civil wars.     

Minority Representation, Resistance, and Public Policy: The Navajos and the Counties

This article examines Navajo Indian representation on the governingboards of six county governments in Arizona, New Mexico, andUtah. External pressures, especially decisions by the federalgovernment, have encouraged increased Navajo representationand changes in county policies that benefit people on the reservation.Beyond this, the findings for individual counties are consistentwith previous research in suggesting that the size of the Navajopopulation as a percentage of the county population is an importantfactor affecting Navajo success in winning seats and the allocationof benefits to reservation residents. Yet, opposition to Navajorepresentation, the ability of Navajos to secure office, andthe policy significance of their representation are far morecomplex than usually suggested by the relevant literature basedlargely on black and Hispanic experiences.     

Outfoxing leviathan: campaigning down Mexico way

This paper is concerned with the end of 71 years of single party government in Mexico. The paper explores the ways in which the opposition harnessed modern campaign techniques to the opportunities presented by democratisation to secure regime transition. A number of campaign features, such as the stress on personality and negative campaigning, have attracted considerable criticism, but the author argues that there are grounds for believing the 2000 election to have been a unique election, and that competition should be more clearly structured around parties and issues in the future. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

Reviews

Enrique Leff: Ecologia y Capital: Hacia una perspectiva ambiental del desarrollo (Ecology and Capital: Toward an Environmentalist Perspective on Development). Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, 1986?

Martin Ryle: Ecology and Socialism. Century Hutchinson, London, 1988.

Klaus Eder: Die Vergesellschaftung der Natur: Studien zur sozialen Evolution der praktischen Vernunft (The Socialization of Nature: Studies on the Social Evolution of Practical Reason). Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt, 1988.     

The Italian General Elections: Something New or More of the Same Thing?

Since the Second World War, Italy has been ruled by shifting coalitions dominated by the Christian Democrat Party to the exclusion of the main opposition, the Communist Party. The continuity in power of the government coalitions and inter party/faction negotiations created the conditions for the abuses of state resources which came to light with the investigations of the Milan magistrates. Electoral reforms intended to break the stranglehold of the partyocracy by encouraging the formation of two main alternative political blocs have been implemented. However, the 1994 elections have returned a right wing coalition to power, and the opposition remains deeply divided.     

Advancing Human Rights Policy: Does Grassroots Mobilization and Community Dispute Resolution Matter? Insights from Chiapas,Mexico

This research examines the impact of grassroots organizing at the community level in Chiapas, Mexico, to address problems associated with human rights advocacy and implementation. Traditionally, the nation‐state has had the primary responsibility to address issues pertaining to human rights violations and the enforcement of international human rights principles and treaties. Local political struggles and acts of resistance by disenfranchised groups in Mexico offer insight to understand the impact of indigenous and other social movements in furthering human rights. Indigenous populations in the state of Chiapas use local community dispute resolution to contest the inadequacy of the state in responding to the problems that give rise to poverty, lack of human dignity, educational access, racial and ethnic discrimination, lack of political participation in government and the right to equality in economic, social, and political sectors. Drawing from research based on participant observations in Chiapas, Mexico, there is some evidence to suggest that since the 1994 EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army) uprising several micro‐level political and social movements have contested the power of the state through symbolic and pragmatic organizing efforts. These groups include, but are not limited to, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), women's groups, and indigenous groups. After the Zapatista uprising, these groups were instrumental in making claims against the state through numerous activities: protests to end the war, the development of NGOs to observe human rights violations, civilian‐based Zapatista support groups (base de apoyo), peace camps, and open dialogue with the EZLN. I argue that collective mobilization in local communities serves both symbolic and pragmatic efforts in helping disenfranchised groups empower themselves to address economic, social, and political inequality. Local‐level activism has fueled a sense of self‐empowerment to change state institutional responses and to involve sectors of civil society domestically and internationally to initiate a proper resolution of issues that are fundamentally related to human rights.     

Committed or Conditional Democrats? Opposition Dynamics in Electoral Autocracies

In electoral autocracies, opposition coalition formation offers the best hope of getting to democracy. Yet forming electoral coalitions also entails convincing opposition voters to ignore compromises and engage in the cross‐party voting necessary for opposition victory. To what extent are voters committed to defeating the autocratic incumbent even if it would result in dislikable outcomes? A survey experiment in Malaysia finds that opposition voters overwhelmingly express pretreatment support for the opposition coalition. But when exposed to a treatment vignette about which member party might lead the next government, many voters retract their support. Specifically, voters’ support for the coalition declines when their least preferred member is expected to control the government and when they can vote for a closer ideological alternative outside of the coalition. Although voters are committed to opposition unity and democratic transition, that commitment is sensitive to the anticipated consequences of an opposition victory.     

As Good as Policy Gets

In June 2014, the think tank IPPR published a report, The Condition of Britain, widely seen as important source material for Labour as the party geared up for the 2015 General Election. This is an echo of another report—that of the Commission on Social Justice, published in 1994—which also made an important contribution to the thinking of Labour in opposition. A comparison between the two documents provides insights into the evolution of mainstream progressive thought over the past twenty years.     

The 1992, 1994 and 1996 elections: A comment and a forecast

A model of the two-way relationship between elections and the economy, previously estimated on historical data for 1916–1988, is applied to the United States elections of 1992, 1994, and 1996. The 1992 result was a surprise to the model since the economy had performed reasonably well that election year. The midterm elections of 1994 were accurately forecast. The Republicans took control of Congress not because of unusual circumstances but because of a normal midterm cycle. President Clinton's chances in 1996 look dim given the current modest growth rate and an electoral bias favoring Republican presidential candidates. But an alternative model, keyed more to the voters choosing Clinton to balance the Republican Congress, gives him a reasonable chance of reelection.     

Between Opinion Leadership and 'Contract of Disagreement': The Norwegian Labour Party and the European Issue (1988-1994)

The Norwegian Labour Party elite advocated European Union membership in the 1994 referendum, but the party's members and voters were divided. This article examines the party leadership's conflict management strategies. The possible tradeoff between, on the one hand, seeking a given policy outcome (in this case, Norwegian membership of the EU), and, on the other, maximising votes and maintaining party cohesion, is focused upon. In the 1972 referendum on Norwegian membership of the European Community, Labour had failed to achieve any of these objectives. Electoral losses and party splits were avoided in 1994, but the main policy objective – EU membership — was still not reached. It is difficult to argue, however, that the Labour elite chose one goal at the expense of the others. This case study suggests that parties may try to reconcile seemingly incompatible objectives and to avoid choosing between goals. In addition, the results underline the importance of organisational learning and indicate that the strategies of both leadership and internal opposition should be included in research on party behaviour.     

Do (Some) Canadian Voters Punish a Prime Minister for Calling a Snap Election?

Are voters willing to punish a prime minister for calling an 'unnecessary' snap election for purely opportunistic reasons? This paper examines voters' reactions to the Canadian prime minister's decision to call a snap election in November 2000. The decision provoked limited resentment, and that resentment was strongest among partisans of the opposition parties and among those who follow politics closely. Those who do not keep up with politics, it seems, either did not realize that the election was precipitous or simply did not care. The paper shows that resentment about the election call was a consideration in vote choice, but it was a decisive consideration for a very small group of voters. We estimate that the electoral cost to the incumbent Liberal Party was one percentage point. Some voters are prepared to punish prime ministers for opportunistically calling a snap election, but in this case the electoral penalty was small.     

Pork-Barrel Politics in Postwar Italy, 1953–94

This article analyzes the political determinants of the distribution of infrastructure expenditures by the Italian government to the country's 92 provinces between 1953 and 1994. Extending implications of theories of legislative behavior to the context of open-list proportional representation, we examine whether individually powerful legislators and ruling parties direct spending to core or marginal electoral districts and whether opposition parties share resources via a norm of universalism. We show that when districts elect politically more powerful deputies from the governing parties, they receive more investments. We interpret this as indicating that legislators with political resources reward their core voters by investing in public works in their districts. The governing parties, by contrast, are not able to discipline their own members of parliament sufficiently to target the parties' areas of core electoral strength. Finally, we find no evidence that a norm of universalism operates to steer resources to areas when the main opposition party gains more votes.