Yucatecan–Mexican Relations at the Time of Independence: The Yucatecan Pronunciamiento of 1821

This article will explore local Yucatecan politicking and the Yucatecan–Mexican relationship at the time of independence, using Yucatán's pronunciamiento for independence in September 1821 as a case study. This examination will highlight the fact that, while local ambitions played a significant role in Yucatán's bid for independence, this did not necessarily detract from Yucatecans' attempts to not only engage with national political movements, but also to unite with Mexico. This in turn will take further historians' recent attempts to revise the traditional perception of Yucatán as one of the more pro‐autonomous and isolated states of early nineteenth‐century Mexico.     

Arthropods of Forensic Importance on Pig Carrion in the Coahuilan Semidesert,Mexico

Abstract: This is the first report of an ongoing research to establish a sarcosaprophagous arthropod database in the Coahuilan semidesert. Seven pigs (Sus scrofa L.) were used as human models to determine succession in an open urban area during the 2007 winter–spring period. Arthropods were collected manually and from pitfall traps. Carcass biomass loss, as well as arthropod colonization, was recorded during 71 days postmortem. Five decomposition stages were identified during which most abundant orders were found to be Diptera, Coleoptera, and Hymenoptera. Lucilia sericata (Meigen), Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart), Necrobia rufipes (DeGeer), Dermestes maculatus (DeGeer), Pheidole hyatti Emery, and Pogonomyrmex rugosus Emery stood out as dominant species.     

CRIME,FEAR, AND MENTAL HEALTH IN MEXICO

This article examines the effect of exposure to criminal violence on fear of crime and mental health in Mexico, a country that has experienced a dramatic rise in violent events resulting from the operation of drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). Data are drawn from more than 30,000 respondents to a national longitudinal survey of Mexican households. We use fixed‐effects models which allow us to control for time‐invariant individual and municipal characteristics affecting both exposure to violence and mental health. The results indicate a substantial increase in fear and psychological distress for individuals living in communities that suffered a rise in the local homicide rate even when exposure to other forms of victimization and more personal experiences with crime are taken into account. Because DTO killings occur in response to factors external to a specific neighborhood, they generate fear and psychological distress at a larger geographical scale. They also seem to create a generalized sense of insecurity, leading to increased fear of other types of crimes. We examine the effect of large surges in homicide and the presence of military and paramilitary groups combatting DTOs as these conditions may approximate those in conflict zones elsewhere in the world. We also explore differences in the relative sensitivity to homicide rates between sociodemographic groups.     

Between 'traditional' and 'new' Catholic church religious discourses in urban, Western Mexico

Abstract — This paper analyses processes of belonging, identity formation and construction of knowledge within and between 'new' and 'traditional' Catholic groups in a low-income neighbourhood of Guadalajara. It argues that these two expressions of the Church carry through distinctive 'progressive' and 'conservative' messages in matter of engagement with, and empowerment in social reality, notions of personal responsibility, relation to non-human agents and embodiment of experience. However, those groups are not internally homogeneous and to a certain extent the 'new' Church–the CEBs–is similar to the 'traditional' Church in terms of subtle hierarchical control of production, transmission and withholding of knowledge.     

From Machine Politics to the Politics of Technocracy: Charting Changes in Governance in the Mexican Municipality1

Abstract — A typology comprising technocratic rationality versus political partisanship helps to identify several local government structures found in contemporary Mexico: political machines; autonomous-indigenous; technocratic; and modernising party governments. Case study research in over a dozen municipalities for three principal parties suggest a trend towards increasing technocratic and more administratively efficient municipal government and changing patterns of partisanship. This arises from new pressures associated with electoral opening, political alternation, new government actors, growing urban development complexity, and from federal reforms offering greater local government autonomy. However, while improved administration and technocratic governance often leads to positive outcomes, they do not necessarily imply ‘good government’.     

What’s Left and Who’s Right? A Q-method Study of Individual and Contextual Influences on the Meaning of Ideological Labels

Left–right semantics are commonly employed by scholars, the media, and politicians in reference to Latin American politics. Yet, how do citizens understand these terms and what determines the meanings they assign to them? I investigate the significance of left–right labels, as potential political heuristic devices, among and across a selected group of citizens in Mexico and Argentina. Subjective understandings of the left–right semantics were tapped using Q-sort methods. Analyses of these data reveal quite different conceptions across individuals and national contexts. Further, and as hypothesized in the text, the analyses demonstrate that ideological labels (a) reference valence issues, in addition to political actors and policy stances; (b) differ across contexts in ways that correspond to elite packaging; and, (c) vary by individual partisan leanings and political sophistication.     

The Welcome Asians: the Japanese in Mexico, 1897–1910

This article focuses on the development of diplomatic relations between Japan and Mexico in the second half of the nineteenth century, culminating in the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the two nations in 1888, and the subsequent effect the positive relationship between the two nations had on Japanese immigration to Mexico. Based on a spirit of reciprocity and equal status, the treaty resulted in a favourable opinion regarding Japan and the Japanese in Mexico that had a direct influence on the way in which Japanese immigrants to Mexico were viewed and treated, which stands in sharp contrast to the experiences of other Japanese migrant communities in the Americas. Viewed as agents of modernization, Japanese immigrants were welcomed or viewed neutrally by Mexican government officials and average citizens. The article also explains why, despite this positive relationship, Mexico never became a large-scale destination for Japanese immigration.     

Mariano Arista and the 1850 Presidential Election in Mexico

Abstract – This article examines the 1850 presidential election in Mexico. It is divided into five sections: party political background, electoral regulations, candidates, campaign, results. General Mariano Arista was the successful candidate in what was the first genuinely contested presidential election since independence.     

The Political Constraints on Economic Policy in Post-1982 Mexico: The Case of Pemex

Abstract Fourteen years of market-oriented reform in Mexico have led to many economic changes. However during 1982–1994 there was relatively little change in the hydrocarbon sector. This article seeks to explain the slowness of reform essentially in political terms. While political constraints on reforming the hydrocarbons sector were genuine, it is also clear that the De la Madrid and Salinas governments chose to avoid controversial decisions in this sector as far as possible. Risk aversion seems, at least in this context, to have been a characteristic of Mexican authoritarianism during 1982–1994. Because of the inherent importance of the oil and gas sector to the Mexican economy, the slow growth of production since 1982 (largely resulting from extreme policy caution) provides a part of the explanation for the slow growth of the Mexican economy as a whole.     

The North Carolina Way: emerging healthcare system and faith community partnerships

ABSTRACT

United States healthcare policy has promoted the development of healthcare systems and community partnerships designed to decrease costs and readmissions, particularly for under-served populations. Typically, these partnerships are “hospital-centric”, focused on following in-house clinical costs into the community. Two contrasting large-scale community system models show results from development practices, integrating faith community partnerships that affect healthcare utilisation. This “community to hospital” focus is key to several such initiatives in the US. This article describes local implementation efforts in North Carolina, known as “the North Carolina Way”, and tests assumptions on implementation practices for creating robust faith-community and healthcare partnerships.