Mexican Democracy When one thinks of Mexico the first thing that often comes to mind are all of the old Westerns where the bad guys would run to Mexico to escape and good guys were attacked by desperados and also government troops. This stereotype is not too far off from the actual political situation in Mexico. If one were to look at the history of this troubled nation one would find a universal lack of stable government and a tendency towards military run dictatorships. This comes from a turbulent history fraught with foreign influence and puppet governments. The most recent foreign intervention was in the 1850's when the French sent troops over to Mexico in order to establish a puppet government under Archduke Maxamillian of Austria. His reign was short-lived and revolutionaries executed him after his surrender in May of 1867. The revolutionary leader Benito Juarez then assumed the presidency. His reign only lasted five years until another revolution lead by Porfiro Diaz. Diaz was the leader in Mexican politics for 35 years until he was finally overthrown. This progression didn't end with Diaz, his successor, Francisco Madero, was overthrown and executed by General Victoriano Huerta, a brutal military dictator who was in power for a short time then overthrown in a new wave of revolutions. This flow of leaders coming to power then being overthrown has lead to a very unstable Mexican political structure. The trend of the losers in an election starting a revolution in response continued until General Lazaro Cardenas came to power in 1934 and became the first president in Mexican history to serve out a full term. The next president, Avila Camacho was the one to organize the PRI, the political party that continues to dominate... ... middle of paper ... ... current presidential system should be left intact because it is the most stability promoting system and this is a definite benefit for the Mexican system. Bibliography: Works Consulted Alba, Victor. A Concise History of Mexico. London, Cassell, 1973 Fornaro, Carlo de. Carranza and Mexico. New York, M Kennerly, 1915 International Congress of Mexican History. Contemporary Mexico: Papers of the IV International Congress of Mexican History. Berkley, University of California Press, 1976 La Botz, Dan. Democracy in Mexico: Peasant Rebellion and Political Reform. Boston, South End Press, 1995 MacLachlan, Colin M. Anarchism and the Mexican Revolution: The Political Trials of Ricardo Flores Magon in the United States. Berkley, University of California Press, 1991 The Age of Poriforio Diaz. Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 1977
C. W. Hackett, ed., Historical Documents relating to New Mexico, Nueva Vizcaya, and Approaches Thereto, to 1773, vol. III (Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1937), 327-35.
8. Meyer, Michael C., et al. The Course of Mexican History, 7th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Rosales, F. Arturo. Lecture 2/14 Film The US-Mexican War Prelude. Weber, David J. - "The 'Path of the World'" Foreigners in Their Native Land: The Historical Roots of Mexican Americans.
Bauer, K. Jack. “Mexican War,” Handbook of Texas Online, last modified June 15, 2010, accessed May 2, 2014, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qdm02
Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War (4th ed.). London: Penguin, 2003. Print.
Ross, John. ?The Zapatistas at Ten.? NACLA, Vol. xxxvii, No. 3, November/December, 2003: pp. 11-16.
78, No. 1, pp C 2004 Robinson, Fay. "Mexican Independence" 1997-2004 a href="http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/mexicanrev.htm">http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/mexicanrev.htm/a> Tuck, Jim. That is a good idea. "THE DARK SHADOW OF VICTORIANO HUERTA" 1999 a href="http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_em>history/jtuck/jtvhuerta.html">http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/history/jtuck/jtvhuerta.html/a>)
Bookchin, Murray. The Spanish anarchists: the heroic years, 1868-1936. New York: Free Life Editions, 1977. Print.
The Underdogs, by Mariano Azuela, is a 1915 novel on the Mexican revolution, which was still ongoing at the time of book’s publication. The novel follows a group of anti-government rebels under the leadership of the peasant Demetrio Macías during the early years of the revolution. The experiences, backgrounds and fates of Macías and the other characters parallel those of the various groups that composed the various pro-government and anti-government factions in Mexico throughout its revolution. Throughout the novel, Azuela tells the story of a country that is in truly dire straits. Mexico is a very lawless country and the people who live in it reflect that. The government forces, known as “Federales”, and the revolutionaries constantly use
“The Conquest of New Spain” is the first hand account of Bernal Diaz (translated by J.M. Cohen) who writes about his personal accounts of the conquest of Mexico by himself and other conquistadors beginning in 1517. Unlike other authors who wrote about their first hand accounts, Diaz offers a more positive outlook of the conquest and the conquistadors motives as they moved through mainland Mexico. The beginning chapters go into detail about the expeditions of some Spanish conquistadors such as Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, Juan de Grijalva and Hernando Cotes. This book, though, focuses mainly on Diaz’s travels with Hernando Cortes. Bernal Diaz’s uses the idea of the “Just War Theory” as his argument for why the conquests were justifiable
In The Underdogs, Mariano Azuela alludes to the immediate motivations and long-term causes of the Mexican Revolution. Introducing readers to a motley crew of rebels, the novel characterizes the protracted struggle as a fight between “the poor” and the avaricious Mexican elites who transformed the “blood, sweat and tears” of the masses into “gold.” While Azuela intended to provide a mere subjective account, his description here is largely corroborated among the greater historical literature. The precipitous growth of the Mexican Revolution began once President Porfirio Diaz declared his victory at the polls, despite previously promising not to seek reelection. However, while Diaz’s decision was the catalyst for the revolution, Mexicans seized
Preston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2007. Print.
The history of political instability in Mexico and its need for revolution is very complex and dates back to the colonization of Mexico by the Spaniards in the 1500s. However, many aspects of the social situation of Mexico when the Revolution broke out can be attributed to the thirty-year dictatorship of President Porfrio Diaz, prior to 1911. The Revolution began in November of 1910 in an effort to overthrow the Diaz dictatorship. Under the Diaz presidency, a small minority of people, primarily relatives and friends, were in ...
McCuen, Gary E. The Nicaraguan Revolution. Hudson, Wisconsin: Gary E. McCuen Publications, Inc., 1986. Print. The.
Wiarda H. J. and Skelley E. M., 2005, Dilemmas of Democracy in Latin America: Crises and Opportunity, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc