Mexico

Published 06 Dec 2016

Antecedents of the Mexican revolution

The Mexican revolution was a high degree armed struggle that was led by Francisco Madero against autocracy of Portirio Diaz. To mark commencement of the revolution, Diaz announced that Mexico as a country was well prepared and mature enough to hold general elections and this pave way to democracy. He therefore accepted to step aside and give other candidates to vie for the presidency of that state. Since, Diaz was growing old and careless, he opted to retire to Europe and give a young person the opportunity to take over. This declaration and line of thought brought dissidence countrywide and he therefore decided to contest in 1910 again and abandoned the earlier idea of retiring.

He wanted to utilize this opportunity to make arrangements of succession to a candidate of his own in the middle of his term. However, Madero felt that he could not let it go and decided to run aside Diaz in an attempt to snatch power from him. To Diaz it was a simple task for he thought he was to control the elections as he had previously done. It happened but Madero hoped and pushed the ideology that the president should rule alongside a group of elites to avoid dominance in policy formulation and implementation (Michael, 2002, p.34).

After projecting the nature of Madero’s campaigns and their consequences in power issues, he was jailed during the day of elections. This made things easy for Diaz to control the elections and he won with a landslide. The declaration of the winner as Diaz was the initial impetus for the start and outbreak of the Mexican revolution. Later, Madero escaped from jail and fled to Texas after which he issued a letter saying he is out of jail with a slogan made to ignore the election and call for free suffrage. He therefore declared the regime headed by Diaz as illegal.

To overthrow the governance, a revolt was organized because Madero was viewed as a hope for disadvantaged and abused Mexicans and as a source of socioeconomic revolution. With overwhelming support from the peasant Indians, Madero overcame Diaz’s army which lost control over Mexico and the whole administration was torn apart and became dysfunctional. Many leaders and natives were fighting on Madero’s side because they were weary of Diaz’s leadership. Both leaders then signed a treaty which stated that Diaz was to abdicate his rule and let Madero take over the country (Michael, 2002, p.42).

The legacy of the Mexican revolution

This revolution left landmarks in the history of Mexico in the process of political globalization and educational extensions and advancements. In the fight of democracy and rights, the revolution resulted into regular protracted and multi sided civil wars in the country. As a result it led to implementation of the Mexican constitution of 1917. Along other comparative and sporadic minor outbreaks of rebellions, it ignited the historic Cristero war. It also came up with multi party democracy and more so the formation of The National Revolutionary Party (Michael, 2002, p.63).

Characteristics of the Mexican revolution

This revolution was Marjory characterized by liberalism, anarchism, popularism, socialism and agrarianism. Mexican revolution is believed to have influenced many industries in Mexico in the move towards global openness and collaboration. However, liberal reforms were highly ignored and human rights highly violated. The revolution initially aimed at minimizing the power and dominance of the Catholic Church. As a result all properties and holdings that were abducted by the past regime were expropriated.

This revolution was at far driven by conservative counter revolutionists and radical revolutionalists who even encompassed the unpopular congress that was elected in the former regime. During this era, Madero refused to enact land reforms which also caused a break up and incited demand for another armed conflict against the government. Madero also highly rejected social reforms for better pays during this revolution. He was forced to resign and assassinated in a week’s time with his vice president (Michael, 2002, p.75).

Mexican electoral and party system 1988-2006

The electoral and party systems during this period underwent a globalization transition which allowed freedom and transparency in the electoral process. It is also a period that gave many parties the freedom to participate and influence the national political undertakings. The determinants and effects of the presidents approval was based on public and other commissions vigilance against crime and corruption, the two vices that had led the country to a both economic and political halt. This was made to erode the peoples perception that the electoral and political system responded to crime and corruption abortively, by approving presidents caught up in these scandals.

It was also made to enhance and promote the executive and legislation relations, a value that strengthened Mexican transition from social, political and economic prejudices. Before this transition, Mexicans had undergone series and series of torture by different leadership regimes. Many countries and natives supported the move because it was a kind of redemption from mistreat. I therefore highlight the relevance of such advancements in political persity and responsiveness to crime and corruption for the sake of national and human based justice and resource distribution (Noble, Greenfield, 2004, p.22).

During this time period, the electoral arrangements framed Mexican politics to focus on the consolidation and advancement of economic reforms that had initially led to economic crises. The system has removed the impediments towards coordination necessary to advance and sustain policy changes for new economic models. It was also felt that formal and informal political institutions that do not perform an enforcement of political exchanges generated extra transaction costs and had to be dropped.

The per existing politicians used to design complex rent allocation mechanism to aid them escape paying rent and later complain about inefficient public policies. As a result of the new electoral and party system, new economic rules and legal property ownership rights were brought to board and implemented, resulting to efficiency and eligibility of elections, declaration of the winner, party registration and party influence in the economic scene of the country. This was an important area to be highlighted since the stability of any state rests upon the economic stability (Noble, Greenfield, 2004, p.46).

Involved in this transition was movement of Mexican institutions from authoritarian presidency, domineering party and elections without choice to multiparty system, presidential system and competitive elections. The need to form inter-party coalitions to enable passing of measures within the legislature has been seen to promote electoral transparency and trust building. What has made institutional arrangements work appropriately in Mexico is the support from of rules and incentives from electoral system which makes sure that countries benefits from the game of politics and elections. Democracy has also prevailed because of the assurance from the electoral commission that rule will always be enforced. Governments and constitutional structures set up by electoral process define and execute each and every policy. All these area are sensitive to highlight since they affect overall stability of a country.

Reference:

  • Michael Gonzales (2002), “The Mexican Revolution: 1910-1940” Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp.34, 42, 63, 75
  • Noble John & Greenfield Beth (2004) Mexico. New York, Lonely Planet, pp.22, 46
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