ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies the main implications of the fifteen-year existence of the Secretaria de Programacion y Presupuesto(SPP). It discusses their relevance in understanding some key developments after the demise of the SPP. The chapter deals with some general remarks on the implications of technocratization of politics in the country’s democratic prospects. More specifically, the case of the SPP suggests that concentration of strategic institutional resources in as highly centralised a setting as the Mexican one can be a source of considerable bureaucratic power and autonomy in its own right. The SPP was conceived as a political contrivance designed to promote executive control along traditional lines. Many factors account for the gaps between the expectations raised by the creation of the SPP and its performance, but one stands out - the symbiotic relationship in Mexico between politics and bureaucracy. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
