Mexican political culture can be difficult to understand, because it draws from several different cultures and ideologies, including: Indian inactiveness, Spanish greed, Catholicism, populist nationalism, and European anti-clericalism. It is not surprising that these vastly different strands, never blended. Adding to the diversity, Mexico is socially and culturally badly integrated, never forming a coherent whole. Mexico’s controlling PRI established co-optation as a means to gain support from citizens, using parton-clientelism to provide benefits and favors to individuals, and corporatism to serve larger groups of people.
Questions to consider:
- In what ways are Mexican voices heard politically?
- How does the patron-client system affect voter behavior in Mexico?
- In what ways has Mexican political participation been characterized by revolution and protest?
Review Questions
Rapid economic growth in Mexico over the past three decades has led to the issue of a growing gap between the rich and the poor.
The Third World is economically dependent on the capital, products, and policies of the First World. This is known as the
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Dependency Theory