ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a broad review of the problem of democracy in Mexico—the legacy of the past, the process of change and the viability of a democratic process. It discusses one institution that has attempted to participate in the new climate of public debate, as a case study of institution building in the development of a democratic process. The chapter explains about the future—what needs to happen, and to be done, to bring about a truly democratic process. In a way, the political system is a most successful and, in that light, logical reaction to the political culture that Mexico inherited from Spanish colonial rule. Economic reform is forcing Mexican society to undergo a profound process of change. Mexico today is a society of winners and losers, liberals and antiliberals. To build a civic culture that fosters debate, all must arrive at a consensus about the rules of coexistence.
