Mestizo
➔ A person of mixed Spanish, indigenous (Amerindian)
Amerindian
➔ Original peoples of North and South America; indigenous people.
Maquiladoras
➔ Factories that produce goods for export, often located along the US-Mexican border.
Anticlericalism
➔ Opposition to the power of churches or clergy in politics. In some countries, for example Mexico, this opposition has focused on the role of the Catholic Church in politics.
Ejidos
➔ Land granted by Mexican government to an organized group of peasants.
Sexenio
➔ The six-year administration of Mexican presidents.
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
➔ A treaty among the US, Mexico, and Canada implemented on January 1, 1994 that largely eliminates trade barriers among the three nations and establishes procedures to resolve trade disputes.
Corporatist State
➔ A state in which interest groups become an institutionalized part of the structure.
Import Substituting Industrialization (ISI)
➔ Strategy for industrialization based on domestic manufacturing of previously imported goods to satisfy domestic market demands. (Do it ourselves mindset)
Parastatal
➔ State-owned, or at least state-controlled/corporation and is created to undertake a broad range of activities, from control and marketing of agricultural production to provision of banking services, operation of airlines, and other transportation facilities and public utilities.
Felipe Calderon
➔ Mexico's former president. Elected in 2006 - 2012. PAN party
Chamber of Deputies
➔ The lower house of Mexico's legislature.
Lazaro Cardenas
➔ President of Mexico from 1935-1940. Responsible for redistribution of land, primarily to create edijos, or communal farms. Began a program of primary and rural education.
Caudillos
➔ National military strongmen. Dominated Mexican politics in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Chiapas Rebellion
➔ Southern Mexican state which had large groups of Native Americans, where rebels (Zapatistas) took up arms and challenged the government, demanding land reform.
Neo-Corporatism
➔ A structure in which business, labor, and state engage in bargaining over economic policies.
Dependency Theory
➔ A model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of the historical exploitation of poor nations by rich ones.
Porfirio Diaz
➔ A Mexican dictator who ruled from 1876 to 1910 and disposed of the Mexican Revolution.
EZLN
➔ Zapatista Army of National Liberation. A largely Mayan group that staged an uprising in 1994. Demanded political reform and greater rights for Mexico's indigenous people.
Vicente Fox
➔ Mexico's president from 2000 - 2006. The first non-PRI president in over seven decades. PAN Party
GNP per capita
➔ Gross National Product. The sum of all goods and services produced in a nation in a year.
HDI
➔ Indicator of level of development for each country. Constructed by the United Nations, combining income, literacy, education, and life expectancy.
Federal Election Institute (IFE)
➔ Organizing elections of the president and the Congress of the Union. Registering voters and parties. Giving all parties access to the media. Setting the ceiling for campaign expenditures. Allocating public funds for campaigns. Recruiting and training citizens to run polling places. Confirming the electoral results.
Neoliberalism
➔ A strategy for economic development that calls for free markets, balanced budgets, privatization, free trade, and minimal government intervention in the economy.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO)
➔ Mexican politician who held the position of Head of Government of the Federal District from 2000 to 2005. Won the presidency on his 3rd try in 2018.
Patron-Client System (Camarillas)
➔ Powerful government officials deliver state servicing policies and access to power in exchange for the delivery of political support.
PEMEX
➔ Mexico's powerful state-owned oil monopoly.
Politicos
➔ Expertise lies in the party, law, and political science and has old style politicians in Mexico. (They tell you what you want to hear, PRI.)
Porfiriato
➔ Period of rule by Porfirio Diaz. Rich getting richer and poor getting poorer. Influences of the Porfiriato are: stability, authoritarianism, foreign investment and economic growth, and the growing gap between the rich and the poor.
PAN
➔ National Action Party. A conservative Catholic Mexican political party that until 2000 was the main opposition to the PRI. Pro-Business/Free Markets and is supported in the North.
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)
➔ Purchasing Power Parity. Evens exchange rates between currencies. Compares goods to other countries' goods.
PRD
➔ Party of the Democratic Revolution. Mexico's main left-of-center opposition party and is supported in the South.
PRI
➔ Political parties intended to stabilize political power in the hands of its leaders. Served as an important source of government legitimacy until other political parties successfully challenged its monopoly during the late 20th century.
Pancho Villa
➔ A Northern Mexican peasant leader of the Revolution who, together with Emiliano Zapata, advocated a more radical socio-economic agenda.
WTO
➔ The World Trade Organization. An international body that enforces agreements that reduce barriers to international trade.
Zapatistas (EZLN)
➔ Guerilla movement named in honor of Emiliano Zapata; originated in 1994 in Mexico's Southern state of Chiapas. Government responded with a combination of repression and negotiation.
Emiliano Zapata
➔ Leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, the main leader of the peasant revolution in the state of Morelos, and the inspiration of the agrarian movement called Zapatismo.
Enrique Pena Nieto
➔ Sometimes referred to by his initials EPN, he is the 57th and former president of Mexico 2012 - 2018. PRI Party
Patron-clientism
➔ This system of cliques based on personal connections and charismatic leadership. Has served as the glue that has held an agrarian Mexico together through practicing.
Cultural heterogeneity
➔ When the Spanish arrived in 1519, the area was well-populated with natives, many of whom were controlled by the Aztecs. Hernan Cortes captured the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, and the Spanish effectively took control of the entire area. Even though status differences between native and Spanish were clearly drawn, the populations soon mixed, particularly since Spanish soldiers were not allowed to bring their families from Spain to the New World. Today about 60 percent of all Mexicans are mestizo (a blend of the two peoples), but areas far away from Mexico City - particularly to the south - remained primarily Amerindian.
Porfirio Diaz
➔ One of Juarez's generals - staged a military coup in 1876 and instituted himself as the President of Mexico with a promise that he would not serve more than one term of office. He ignored that pledge and ruled Mexico with an iron hand for 34 years. He brought with him the cientificos, a group of young advisors that believed in bringing scientific and economic progress to Mexico.
Authoritarianism
➔ This dictatorship allowed no sharing of political power beyond the small, closed elite.
Foreign investment and economic growth
➔ The cientificos encouraged entrepreneurship and foreign investment - primarily from the United States - resulting in a growth of business and industry.
Patron-client system
➔ In their efforts to unseat Diaz, caudillos - political/military strongmen from different areas of the country - rose to challenge one another for power. Two popular leaders - Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa - emerged to lead peasant armies and establish another dimension to the rebellion.
Constitution of 1917
➔ Although it represents the end of the revolution, the Constitution did not bring an end to the violence. It set up a democratic government - complete with three branches and competitive elections - but political assassinations continued on into the 1920s.
Conflict with the Church
➔ The Cristeros Rebellion broke out in the 1920s as one of the bloodiest conflicts in Mexican history, with hundreds of thousands of people killed, including many priests. Liberals saw the church as a bastion of conservatism and put laws in place that forbid priests to vote, put federal restrictions on church-affiliated schools, and suspended religious services. Priests led a rebellion against new rules that contributed to the chaos of the era.
The Establishment of the PRI
➔ Finally, after years of conflict and numerous presidential assassinations, President Calles brought caudillos together for an agreement in 1929. His plan - to bring all caudillos under one big political party - was intended to bring stability through agreement to "pass around" the power from one leader to the next as the presidency changed hands. Each president could only have one six year term (sexenios), and then must let another leaderhave his term. Meanwhile, other leaders would be given major positions in the government to establish their influence. This giant umbrella party - PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) - "institutionalized" the revolution by stabilizing conflict between leaders.
Redistribution of land
➔ Land was taken away from big landlords and foreigners and redistributed as ejidos - collective land grants - to be worked by the peasants.
Nationalization of industry
➔ Foreign business owners who had been welcomed since the time of Diaz were kicked out of the country, and much industry was put under the control of the state. For example, PEMEX - a giant government-controlled oil company - was created.