ABSTRACT
The paramount role played by the presidency has been the most important agreed point on Mexican politics. By the late 1960s, initial optimistic pictures of Mexican politics were replaced by those stressing the dark side of presidentialism. The Mexican Revolution marked an important stage in the country’s economic path. In essence, the Mexican political system is a product of the political context surrounding the 1917-1940 period. The government’s clear shift to a model of state-led industrialization in the early 1940s can hardly be understood without considering changes in dominant economic paradigms. The early institutionalization of the Mexican political system is at the core of a long period of sustained political stability. Professions are ‘special occupations’ with relatively high degrees of internal specificity and identity In Mexico, the co-ordination of agencies and policies has traditionally been highly centralized. It explains the president’s titanic efforts at personal supervision.
