Electoral Competition and Institutional Change in Mexico

COROLINE C. BEER'S NEW BOOK EXPLORES the consequences of democratic politics in Mexico. Focusing on struggles at the subnational level, she assesses how increased electoral competition alters the long-term distribution of power across political institutions in ways that shift power away from established elites and into the hands of ordinary citizens. Electoral Competition and Institutional Change in Mexico includes compelling case study comparisons of three states with very different experiences with electoral democracy: Guanajuato, Hidalgo, and San Luis Potosi. These cases are then situated within a broader quantitative analysis of all thirty-one Mexican states. Beer's research reverses the causal arrow of many standard studies by focusing on the causes of institutional change rather than the consequences of institutional design. Her analysis reveals that the process of increasing electoral competition has unleashed new forces that have slowly eroded the power of centralized, authoritarian elites in Mexico. Utilizing a theoretical framework that draws on insights from classic democratic theory, new institutionalist literature, and current critiques of contemporary Latin American democracy, Beer's important work represents the first comparative study of state legislatures and governors in Mexico and offers compelling insight into the bottom-up dynamics of Mexico's transition to democracy.

List of contents

About the author

Caroline C. Beer is assistant professor of political science at the University of Vermont.

Summary

An exploration of the consequences of democratic politics in Mexico. Focusing on struggles at the subnational level, the author assesses how increased electoral competition alters the long-term distribution of power across political instituions in ways that shift power away from established elites.

Product details

• Authors: Beer, Caroline C Beer, Caroline C. Beer, Caroline C. (Assistant Professor of Political Science Beer, Caroline C. Beer (Assistant of Political, Caroline C. Beer (Assistant Professor of Political Science USA)
• Publisher: University Of Notre Dame Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 11.11.2003
• EAN: 9780268027674
• ISBN: 978-0-268-02767-4
• No. of pages: 208
• Dimensions: 153 mm x 233 mm x 15 mm
• Weight: 313 g
• Series: From the Helen Kellogg Institu; Kellogg Institute Series on Democracy and Development; Kellogg Institute Democracy an
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education