MEXICO'S POLITICAL SYSTEM

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the future of Mexico's political system and to provide an account of the country's path to democracy. Various source materials that provide a divergence of opinions are analyzed in order to describe the democratization process of Mexico, and the reasons that the authors ascribe as to why this process occurred are discussed. In addition, an opinion is rendered as to which author provides the most convincing argument about Mexico's future.

Mexico's political awakening is detailed in Chand's (2001) aptly titled book: "Mexico's Political Awakening". In the introduction (Chand, 2001, pp. 1-11), the author summarizes his theories as to why and how seventy-one years of one-party rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) at the national level ended when the National Action Party (PAN) won the presidency in 2000. One critical factor was the political awakening of society, when many Mexican citizens, fed up with the corruption and election fraud that were so permeated within the PRI, joined civic organizations that promoted clean elections, or just joined opposition parties. The Church, the major opposition party, the PAN, and increased social leadership at the grass roots level all contributed to an increased awareness of the need for institutional and democratic reforms.

The book traces the development of these transformations through a regional case study that impacted on the national level. The

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