Description
Book SynopsisExamines organization, leadership and changes within Mexico's historic pro-democratic opposition parties, the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) and the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD). Explores the implications for overall party organization and the future of Mexico's democratic experiment.
Trade Review“Savage Democracy presents a provocative analysis of the perverse effects of internal democracy within political parties on the functioning of democracy at the regime level, based on richly detailed field research, extensive interviews, and internal party documents. Far too little attention has been paid to the political effects of the internal organizational choices made by political parties. Most research concentrates on external institutional constraints, such as electoral law. Wuhs does a nice job of highlighting how democratic decision-making norms constrain party leaders and lead to unanticipated consequences for the electoral fortunes of the parties as well as their behavior in power. Though based on a study of political parties in Mexico, it should be of interest to scholars of parties and Mexican democracy more generally. It is written at an accessible level and could be used for advanced undergraduate classes, but presents sophisticated arguments that scholars at all ranks should appreciate.”
—Kathleen Bruhn,University of California, Santa Barbara
“Steven Wuhs fills a huge gap in the literature on Mexico’s emerging democratic regime with this systematic comparative study of party development of the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s two challengers, the National Action Party and the Party of the Democratic Revolution. Drawing on the vast scholarship on political parties and his extensive field research, Wuhs shows how the PAN’s institutional development allowed it to best the PRD in the quest to oust the PRI.”
—Joseph L. Klesner,Kenyon College
“The tale is well told from an institutional standpoint, with careful research and cogent presentation.”
—E. A. Duff Choice
Table of ContentsContents
List of Tables and Figures
Preface and Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
1 . What Is Savage Democracy?
2. Before Savage Democracy: Authoritarianism in Mexico
3. Origins of the Democratic Imperative
4. Selecting Loyalists Versus Picking Winners
5. Partisan Mystics Versus Political Professionals
6. Affiliation Versus Alliance Versus Absorption
7. The End of Savage Democracy?
Epilogue: The Legacy of the Democratic Imperative
Appendixes
References
Index
