ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a theoretical framework on comparative politics. The end of World War II meant that democracy went from being one of many forms of political organisation to being widely recognised as the preferred form of government for liberal-capitalist industrialised societies. Mechanism-based explanations of democratisation are therefore short from being analyses of case-specific macro-social political transformations but are certainly far more wide-ranging than agency or modernisation-based theories of democratisation. Mexico's chronology of democratisation following with internationalisation offers an already made system design; the idea is to trace particular democratic developments in Mexico to particular characteristics of Mexico's internationalisation through North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico represents an ideal 'critical case' as it fulfils many of the characteristics necessary to be considered so. In many ways, Mexico's transition to democracy is, at best, yet to be completed. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
