This essay seeks to highlight Mexico’s current barriers to democracy as well as an overview of the country’s political history. Mexico is one of the most popular countries in the southern section of North America, where it borders the United States to the south. The country was invaded and colonized by the Spanish at the beginning of the 16 th C (Espinosa, 2019). After decades of struggling for independence, Mexico finally escaped slavery and unbearable taxes from the Spanish on September 16, 1810, as suggested by Espinosa (2019). The struggle for autonomy marks what was to become Mexico’s system of politics. During that period, priest Hidalgo and Jose Maria Morelos formed a revolution that would grant the country independence from Spain. A year later, Jose Morelos was executed, and Iturbide formed a second revolt which completely liberated the Mexicans from the Spaniards. Iturbide became Mexico’s first emperor (Emperor Agustin I). Guadalupe Victoria, in 1823, became Mexico’s first president.
The age of Santa Anna is arguably one of the most notable eras in Mexico’s political history. This period came years after General Lopez Santa Anna successfully staged a coup against the government to become the President. During this era, military expenses surpassed the government’s revenues, and Mexico encountered huge problems. In 1855, Santa Anna was overthrown by liberals who were led by Benito Juarez, Melchor Ocampo, and Ignacio Comonfort (Espinosa, 2019). Twelve years later, general Porfirio Diaz took over power from the liberals and governed the country until 1910. The Northern Dynasty then came to rule Mexico in the 1940s.
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There are several barriers to Mexico’s current growing democracy. Mexican multi-party system that was adopted a few decades ago was a milestone in the country’s young democracy. Some of the barriers to the countries current democracy include voter manipulation, corruption, and clientelism. Some of the Federal Electoral Tribunal officials are corrupt and often collude with politicians from the ruling party to interfere with ballot regulation. Moreover, PRI players have often been linked to perpetuating voter manipulation interfering with the legitimacy of the electoral system within the country. Voter manipulation interferes with citizens’ participation and exercise of their democratic rights, as suggested by Magstadt (2017). Clientelism also hinders democracy as incumbent politicians have to liaise with former politicians and brokers for their legislations to pass.
References
Espinosa, E. T. (2019). Bureaucracy and politics in Mexico: The case of the secretariat of programming and budget . Routledge.
Magstadt, T. M. (2017). Understanding politics: Ideas, Institutions, and issues. Australia: Cengage learning.
