Enduring Challenges to Mexico's Electoral Democracy Vote Buying and Vote Coercion in Subnational Politics

Gilles Serra

《Taiwan Journal of Democracy》 11卷2期 (2015/12) Pp. 53-74

並列摘要

Mexico provides significant insight into the modern challenges being faced by young democracies struggling to shed the remnants of their authoritarian past. Following some classic definitions from democratic theory, the country is best categorized as an electoral democracy striving to become a liberal one. Under such framework, this essay aims to analyze some of the enduring obstacles to Mexico's democratic consolidation, along with possible ways forward. Based on recent elections, this essay studies two problems that have been remarkably lasting: vote buying and vote coercion. Interestingly, these problems are more acute at the subnational level than they are at the national level, which compels us to revise some of the classic definitions of democracy in the theoretical literature. In particular, I propose a requirement for a country to be considered a liberal democracy instead of an electoral one: democratization must have disseminated to regions beyond the center, as well as to subnational levels beyond the national government. This conceptual discussion helps to frame the type of weaknesses still found in Mexico's democracy. I show that vote buying and vote coercion remain deeply entrenched in the political culture of several states that have fallen behind in their democracy levels, such as Veracruz. In assessing possible solutions to such problems, I describe the profound political reform of 2014 creating the National Electoral Institute (INE), which took the administration of local elections away from local governments. The results of the midterm elections of June 2015 allow concluding that this reform fell short of solving the enduring weaknesses of Mexico’s democracy. Rather, I suggest that Mexico needs actual regime change at the subnational level. Only then might the country transition from electoral democracy to liberal democracy.

並列關鍵字

Liberal democracy ； clientelism ； vote buying ； vote coercion ； corruption ； elections ； Mexico

參考文獻

Serra, Gilles(2012).The Risk of Partyarchy and Democratic Backsliding.Taiwan Journal of Democracy.8(1),93-118.

Whitehead, Laurence(2006).Closely Fought Elections and the Institutionalization of Democracy.Taiwan Journal of Democracy.2(1),6.

[Rogelio Montemayor Seguy, former director of Pemex: Chronology of the case], La Jornada, September 3, 2004

COLMEX, Polilat, and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation for their 2013 report of the Index of Democratic Development in Mexico (IDD-Mex), http://idd-mex.org (accessed September 19, 2015)

Freedom House website, https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2015 (accessed September 14, 2015)