ABSTRACT
In many democracies, economic and political crises lead to widespread anger against the political class. Political parties sometimes react to these pressures by opening their candidate-selection procedures to new social actors to meet calls for greater party responsiveness. In other nations, however, party leaders can ignore crises and maintain tight control over ballot access thanks to “party-protective institutions”. This paper uses the case of Mexico’s three largest parties after the economic and political crises of 2008–2010 to demonstrate that where political institutions isolate parties from exogenous pressures, leaders can either reject calls to open their selection methods or even close them further. Mexico shows that changes in selection are not necessarily driven by outside demands, but rather by internal party dynamics.
