ABSTRACT
The case study in this chapter will track how the Clinton administration and Mexican government came slowly and fitfully to support international electoral observation in the 1994 Mexican elections. It will show that the prevailing belief against open criticism of the Mexican political system continued to operate simultaneously with this policy shift and was not dramatically challenged by this incremental change. The change came about in this case not from an outcast minority, but by the interplay of key individuals both within and outside the administration. The political context leading up to the elections began to shift with the dramatic rebel offensive in Chiapas.
