Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Tuesday, April 21

  1. Constitution
    1. In the days of pre dominance, it was difficult to clasfiy the political system because it seemed to be a hbrid system with both free and authoritarian elements

                                               i.     By the time you get to the 1980s, elections become more competitve, and the PRI is forced to clean up its act on voter fraud.

                                             ii.     As the elections become more competitive you get a stronger committmnt to fairness, making it more democratic

    1. For most of the time with the PRI, there is a moderate, authoritarian regime that was successful

                                               i.     They could find and nominate people to offices; no recruitment problems

                                             ii.     If a president dies, the party would just select a new one

    1. Mexico’s sstem is one hwere if people came up with new ideas and challenged gobernment, the government would try very hard to coop these challengers.
    2. Historically, if the Mexican government was unable to coop oposition, the governmetn woiuld come down pretty hard on the opposition

                                               i.     Ex. In 1998, when the EZLN had come out of the Chiapas state complaining, and the goenemrnt tried to deal with them, the EZLN said they wouldn’t negotiate anymore, and that’s when the army was sent in

    1. On paper, the Mexican government looks very much like the U.S. government (constitution

                                               i.     President

                                             ii.     Three separate branches

                                            iii.     System of checks and balances

                                            iv.     Specifies a federalist system

                                             v.     States have considerable powers

                                            vi.     There are some differences though

1.     Mexican president serves for 6 years, can’t be reelected

2.     President must be native born with Mexican parents and be 35 years old

3.     No Vice President

a.     If the president dies within first 2 years, a successor would be chosen in a special election

b.     If the president is in for more than 2 years, the Congress would chose a sucessor to finish out the term

                                          vii.     Two House legislature elected by a system of mix part single member districts and proportonal representation

                                         viii.     The judicial branch is headed by a supreme court with 21 magistrates who are appointed for life by the President with the approval of the Senate

1.     The federal courts have the power to declare a law unconstitutional or to invalidate it

a.     Works differently, in Mexico if the court calls in unconsitutional, the law is suspended in the particular case to which the court is hearing

                                                                                                     i.     Not much weight given to precedent

                                                                                                   ii.     If a law is challenged on grounds of constiutionality in 5 consecutive cases, the law is struck down

                                            ix.     Judicial review does exist but historically, the supreme court has cooperated with the president on policy matters, and the point is is that the supreme court had neve invalidated any major policy of an incubent president from the PRI party during 64 of the 70 yers of dominance

1.     Not until after the 2000 election Zedillo (as he is on his way out) the court settled a dispute that he was involved in and the court went against him

  1. Executive
    1. President is the key figure

                                               i.     Prsaentialist sytem with a lot a consitutional powers vested in the president also with a lot of unwriteen poiwers

                                             ii.     The principle of executive power of the legislature and the judiciary has been well established

    1. There is a cabinet

                                               i.     Under the PRI the cabinet postiions were filled by the members of the President’s camarillos

                                             ii.     When fox was elected, he broke with the tradition and appointed a cabinet full of business leaders are prominent politicians without a close tie to Fox or the PAN

                                            iii.     Calderon has continued Fox’s approach

    1. Ratification of the PRI presidents policy was virtually locked from 1930-2000 but the legisltaure is no longer a rubber stamp
    2. The 1988 election put anew wrinkle into Mexican politics in particular the President

                                               i.     In Mexico, it takes a 2/3 majority in both houses to amend the constiuttion, and during PRI dominance, the constiution was amended to allow policy changes

1.     From 1917, the constitution has been amended over 300 times

2.     The PRI lost their majority in 1988 and thus fewer constiuttional amendments have been passed

    1. The judiciary had been firmly under the presidents contorl on any significant issue

                                               i.     Significantly, the judiciary followed the incumbent president’s lead and none of his actions were eclare un consitutional until they ruled against Zedillo in 2000

    1. Mexican presidents are not seriously constrained by the Mass media

                                               i.     The government does not censor the mass media

    1. During PRI dominance, Presidents had the poewr to make appointments from practically top to bottom

                                               i.     Outgoing presidents could name his successor

                                             ii.     That changes, and giong into the 2000 elections, the last PRI president, Zedillo, announces that the PRI would hold a primary election to determine is candidated for President in 2000

  1. The Legislature
    1. Prior to 2000, the legislature was essentially a rubber stamp legislature
    2. Still today, there are two chambers

                                               i.     Upper house is called the Senate

                                             ii.     Lower house is called the Chamber of Deputies

    1. Seats in both houses are distributed with a hybrid of single member districts and proportional representation

                                               i.     300 of the 500 seats in the Deputies are chosen by single member districts

1.     the other 200 chosen by proportional representation

                                             ii.     in the Senate, each state and in addition the federal district have 3 senators, and then another 32 seats are distributed through porportional representation

    1. Mexico is poruod of this sytem because it gives a good balance to a proportioanl representation sytem and a single member dsitrict system

                                               i.     It allows both representation through a single member districts and a fair distribution through proportaion representation

    1. The president no longer controls the legislature

                                               i.     When the congress is not in session, they havea  permanent commission composed of 14 senators and 15 deputies appointed by the two houses to acto n bhalf of the congress on matters to urgent to wait for the next session

    1. Since 2000, the congress has had a chance to become an independent check on the presidency

                                               i.     No party holds a mojority in either house

 

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