ABSTRACT
Mexico stands on the brink of far-reaching transition. Economic crisis and austerity policies have brought a harsh end to the famous "Mexican miracle," inflicting unprecedented hardship on wage-earning workers and the salaried middle classes. The Mexican government constantly cultivated contact with intellectual figures and supported their endeavors, frequently enticing them into semi-honorific public offices. The progressive departure of intellectuals from the ruling coalition could have serious long-term consequences for Mexican society and politics. Mexico's new left has yet to gain a strong electoral following--with just under 10 percent of the vote in the disputatious legislative elections of 1985--and it has suffered from internal schisms. Mexico's academic community is becoming less homogenous, less exclusive, and less directly tied to the regime. There is hardly any doubt that technocrats have come to dominate Mexican politics over the past fifteen years or so.
