Grayson 2004

Grayson 2004

(in Wiarda 2004)

Grayson, George W. “Mexico's Semicorporatist Regime,” in Wiarda, Howard J. 2004. Authoritarianism and corporatism in Latin America--revisited. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Overview:

• Salinas’s neoliberal reforms
  
  • Ruptured the ruling party (246)
    
  • Diminished rewards to the faithful (due to lower government revenues through tariffs, quotas, etc.)
    
  • Diminished central control
    
  • Caused businesses to start competing on labor costs, which is bad for system/unions
    
• Wiarda also Suggests these reforms led to calls for greater democracy, and gave rise to opposition party successes (especially at the state and local level)
  
• Population growth and social diversification also meant there were more groups outside the corporatist political framework (247)
  
• As corporatist institutions had been slightly undermined, Fox did not have great control over corrupt labor leaders (248)
  
• Talks a lot about Fox’s political styling
  
  • disdain for politicians
    
  • attempt to use media instead of government organizations
    
  • included PRI in some things, didn’t hammer away at them, not many panistas in his cabinet
    
  • allowed Sup Marcos and EZLN to address nation
    
• PRI maintains traditional sectors, though does some changes (BUT, of course, primaries for elections undermine any delegate/candidate concessions)
  
• AMLO taking some corporatist reins, very humanistic but also relatively authoritarian (read: populist)
  
• Lots of foreign NGOs hanging out, too…massive increase over the 2000s, maybe they’ll be important in the future?
  
• No new rules of the game exist for governing (255)
  
  • No new organizations have replaced traditional corporatist structures
    
  • Corp. structures remain, although in much weaker form.
    

Quotes:
“No new rules of the game exist for governing.” (255)