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National Electoral Choices in Rural Mexico 1

Jonathan Fox

in Accountability Politics: Power and Voice in Rural Mexico

This chapter analyzes persistent exclusionary electoral practices, using quantitative indicators of access to the secret ballot in Mexico's 1994 presidential election in rural areas. While the ... More

This chapter analyzes persistent exclusionary electoral practices, using quantitative indicators of access to the secret ballot in Mexico's 1994 presidential election in rural areas. While the opposition expected a re-run of the repertoire of fraud and manipulation that characterized the 1988 race, instead the state effectively deployed a range of levers of intervention in rural economic and social life that, in combination with the systematic lack of access to the secret ballot, reduced the ruling party's need to resort to fraud by inducing a widespread ‘fear vote’. This study draws on two previously unstudied data sets to estimate the degree of rural voter access to the secret ballot in the 1994 presidential elections, including a focus on opposition party oversight in indigenous municipalities in the states of Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Chiapas.Less

Decentralizing Decentralization: Mexico's Invisible Fourth Level of the State 1

Jonathan Fox

in Accountability Politics: Power and Voice in Rural Mexico

This chapter explores the relationship between democratization and decentralization. In Mexico, the government promoted deliberative citizen participation nation-wide in rural municipalities, well ... More

This chapter explores the relationship between democratization and decentralization. In Mexico, the government promoted deliberative citizen participation nation-wide in rural municipalities, well before national electoral democratization. Mexican decentralization empowered municipalities, but it turns out that municipal governance systematically excludes millions of rural people who live outside of the town centers that usually control municipal affairs. Those villages are most directly governed by sub-municipal authorities. In some states and regions these truly local authorities are chosen democratically, representing villagers to the municipality, in others they are designated from above, representing the mayor to the villagers. This chapter explores rural citizens' efforts to hold local governments accountable through three different comparative research strategies: analysis of resource allocation decision-making processes in a representative sample of local rural governments in the state of Oaxaca; comparison of changing municipal-sub-municipal power relations in four rural states (Oaxaca, Guerrero, Hidalgo, and Chiapas); and a nation-wide comparison of the state level laws that govern this invisible ‘sub-municipal regime’.Less

Contamination: Transgenes in Mexican Corn?

C. Neal Stewart

in Genetically Modified Planet: Environmental Impacts of Genetically Engineered Plants

In 2001, a group of researchers at the University of California-Berkeley published a report claiming that transgenes had moved from commercial corn to landrace corn in Oaxaca, Mexico. Transgenic corn ... More

In 2001, a group of researchers at the University of California-Berkeley published a report claiming that transgenes had moved from commercial corn to landrace corn in Oaxaca, Mexico. Transgenic corn had never been planted — at least legally — in Mexico, and so the researchers thought that it was an important scientific result with political implications. Mexican landrace corn had been propagated by indigenous farmers for centuries, and transgenes could be disruptive to the plant and the culture. The finding that transgenes were in landrace corn and parts of transgenes were hopping around the genome was hotly contested because of the flawed methodology used in the original study. Furthermore, the findings were never confirmed by any other researchers. In an unprecedented move, the journal editor announced that the paper should have never been published in the first place. This is one example of exaggerated claims that have encouraged the unnecessary controversy in agricultural biotechnology.Less

Introduction: Reconciling liberal pluralism and group rights: A comparative perspective on Oaxaca, Mexico’s, experiment in multiculturalism

Todd A. Eisenstadt

in Latin America's Multicultural Movements: The Struggle Between Communitarianism, Autonomy, and Human Rights

“Autonomy” as a concept contains a slew of meanings, connotations, and frames. This chapter considers the degree to which minority groups can operate independently from the state and its dominant ... More

“Autonomy” as a concept contains a slew of meanings, connotations, and frames. This chapter considers the degree to which minority groups can operate independently from the state and its dominant culture as well as the degree to which individuals are free to make conscious decisions about the institutions, parties, and practices they support. Using examples given throughout the book of indigenous rights movements in Bolivia, Ecuador and Mexico (Oaxaca, Chiapas, Yucatán) to analyze the proper unit (individual, interest group, community, region) for states’ granting and indigenous movements’ seizure of autonomy, the chapter offers preliminary explorations of multicultural indigenous rights regimes, and their challenges to liberal pluralism, in Mexico, Bolivia, and Ecuador. It concludes that only a frank consideration of the trade-offs between human rights and communitarian rights can yield the kind of self-aware multiculturalism that simultaneously respects the rights of groups and their individual members.Less

Conclusion: Balancing tensions between communitarian and individual rights and the challenges they present for multicultural states

Willibald Sonnleitner and Todd A. Eisenstadt

in Latin America's Multicultural Movements: The Struggle Between Communitarianism, Autonomy, and Human Rights

This last chapter underscores the complexity of struggles between communitarian politics and individual rights, and relations between minority groups and the state. It considers three cases tried ... More

This last chapter underscores the complexity of struggles between communitarian politics and individual rights, and relations between minority groups and the state. It considers three cases tried recently in Mexico’s Federal Electoral Court, seeking to add multicultural dimensions to their interpretations of justice. The cases relate to the implementation of citizen rights under Oaxaca’s customary law system but are also relevant to the debate over implementation of multicultural reforms in Latin America. The authors conclude that the minority status of indigenous peoples and communities in Latin America does justify their access to mechanisms which allow them to expand their economic, social, cultural, political and electoral rights. But consistent with this fundamental principle of justice, it is equally important to respect human rights and universal participation, effective representation and inclusion of minorities within communities. Finding this balance may be difficult, but viewing the issue from this perspective offers a sound beginning.Less

Political subsystems in Oaxaca’s Usos y Costumbres municipalities: A typology based on the civil-religious service Bbckground of mayors

Carlos Sorroza Polo and Michael S. Danielson

in Latin America's Multicultural Movements: The Struggle Between Communitarianism, Autonomy, and Human Rights

Policies such as the recognition of usos y constumbres (UC) in Oaxaca, Mexico, purport to extend the right to self-determination to Indigenous communities. But traditional systems of community ... More

Policies such as the recognition of usos y constumbres (UC) in Oaxaca, Mexico, purport to extend the right to self-determination to Indigenous communities. But traditional systems of community service have been modified due to migration, education, and pressures from an external socio-cultural system that values individualism and rejects the collective. Using original municipal-level survey data, this chapter examines the civil and religious service backgrounds mayors, and proposes a typology of subsystems of UC municipalities in the state. The pathway mayors take to power is an important indicator of the degree to which communities have maintained their traditional organizational structures, in which many years of religious and civil service to the community through the cargo system are required to reach higher levels of authority. The analysis moves beyond such overly simplistic dichotomies as UC vs. political party system or Indigenous vs. Mestizo and demonstrates the internal diversity among UC municipalities.Less

Further Regression Issues in Labour Economics

Stephen Bazen

in Econometric Methods for Labour Economics

This chapter discusses the four aspects of regression analysis as used in labour economics. Decomposing differences between groups — males and females, for example — is one of the key uses of ... More

This chapter discusses the four aspects of regression analysis as used in labour economics. Decomposing differences between groups — males and females, for example — is one of the key uses of econometric estimates, and this is treated in Section 2.1 of this chapter. The traditional way of undertaking a decomposition is to attribute part of the difference in the means of a variable (say earnings) for two groups to differences in characteristics, and the remainder to other factors. This is the Oaxaca decomposition of the difference in the means for two groups. Going beyond the average is made possible by using an approach that estimates the relationship between the dependent and explanatory variables at different points in the distribution. This is possible using quantile regression and is presented in the next section of the chapter. Methods for analysing panel data are covered in Section 2.3. In the final part of this chapter, the issue of estimating standard errors is addressed.Less

A Diachronic Perspective on the Prehispanic Ceramic Tradition of the Valley of Oaxaca

Gary M. Feinman

in Ceramics of Ancient America: Multidisciplinary Approaches

For the prehispanic Valley of Oaxaca (Mexico), including Monte Albán and other sites, the 1967 volume by Alfonso Caso, Ignacio Bernal, and Jorge Acosta has long served as the key guide and reference ... More

For the prehispanic Valley of Oaxaca (Mexico), including Monte Albán and other sites, the 1967 volume by Alfonso Caso, Ignacio Bernal, and Jorge Acosta has long served as the key guide and reference for ceramic typology and chronology. Although this classic archaeological tome remains the essential source, nevertheless five decades of fieldwork and analysis has led to important temporal expansions in the pottery record as well as refinements, new observations on pottery production, and the extension of relevant research issues, which all enhance the original schema of Caso and his colleagues. This chapter synthesizes and cites many of these new ceramic developments as a basis to take stock of what we have learned during the intervening years and to establish a foundation to investigate shifts in the region’s ceramic complex over three prehispanic millennia.Less

APPO-LA:: Translocal Media Practices

Sasha Costanza-Chock

in Out of the Shadows, Into the Streets!: Transmedia Organizing and the Immigrant Rights Movement

This chapter traces the ways that translocal media practices, deployed by Oaxacan migrants on a daily basis to strengthen connections between their places of origin and their new communities abroad, ... More

This chapter traces the ways that translocal media practices, deployed by Oaxacan migrants on a daily basis to strengthen connections between their places of origin and their new communities abroad, are often used in times of crisis to build social movement visibility and power. The focus is a series of protests by the Asociación Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca, Los Angeles (the Popular Association of the Oaxacan Peoples, L.A., or APPO-LA). In June 2006, the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca was convulsed by a general strike against the corrupt (and questionably elected) governor Ulises Ruiz Ortíz. Teachers, indigenous peoples, women, students, and workers joined forces in a popular assembly that occupied city plazas for months, took over radio and TV stations, demanded the governor's resignation, and called for a constituent assembly to rewrite the state constitution. Oaxacan migrants in L.A. organized a powerful series of solidarity actions, raised thousands of dollars to support the general strike, and generated attention for the situation in Oaxaca both online and in Spanish-language mass media. The chapter explores the importance of translocal media practices in an age of mass migration.Less

The Rise of Warfare in Mesoamerica

Ross Hassig

in War and Society in Ancient Mesoamerica

This chapter describes the development of warfare in Mesoamerica. Organized warfare and domination by foreign groups did not truly begin in Mesoamerica until the rise of the Olmecs. The Olmecs ... More

This chapter describes the development of warfare in Mesoamerica. Organized warfare and domination by foreign groups did not truly begin in Mesoamerica until the rise of the Olmecs. The Olmecs probably did not rely on the atlatl as a weapon. Defensive armor was also rare among them. The demise of the Oaxaca trade had significant effects in the Olmec area. San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan's local dominance rested in large part on its unrivaled ability to import elite goods. During the La Venta phase, trade underwent a number of changes, both in type of goods and method of procurement. The role of the Olmec military remained protective rather than expansionistic. The Olmecs did not fight to maintain their position—they lacked the manpower and logistical capability to do so—but simply withdrew when they could no longer sustain mercantile relations.Less

The Impact Beyond the Empire

Ross Hassig

in War and Society in Ancient Mesoamerica

Teotihuacan did not overthrow other empires, but dominated largely in the absence of other significant Mesoamerican powers. Teotihuacan exercised power and honed its military skills locally, but ... More

Teotihuacan did not overthrow other empires, but dominated largely in the absence of other significant Mesoamerican powers. Teotihuacan exercised power and honed its military skills locally, but expanded in a partial political vacuum and its fate depended as much on its own actions as on what others did. Teotihuacan did not conquer Monte Alban in the Valley of Oaxaca and the lowland Maya cities. Teotihuacan did not conquer Monte Alban, probably because of the difficulty of doing so rather than any disinclination. Teotihuacan had a larger army, although logistical constraints doubtless kept its army from enjoying numerical superiority in the Valley of Oaxaca. Teotihuacan's expansion simply reached the limits feasible under existing conditions: it was not thwarted by superior powers. Some groups it encountered were doubtless locally powerful, especially Monte Alban, aided as it was by its geographical setting, but these local powers were (probably) all aristocratic.Less

The Taxi Driver: Civil Society, Journalism, and Oaxaca’s El Chapulín

Benjamin T. Smith

in Mexican Press and Civil Society, 1940-1976: Stories from the Newsroom, Stories from the Street

This chapter examines the career of Alfredo Ramírez, the editor of Oaxaca’s satirical newspaper El Chapulín. It focuses on the role of the newspaper in civil society movements in Oaxaca.

Ethnic and Racial Categories in Mexican History

Lynn Stephen

in Zapata Lives!: Histories and Cultural Politics in Southern Mexico

This chapter presents a historical orientation and explanation of certain racial and ethnic categories, which are also discussed on the chapters on Chiapas and Oaxaca. It also discusses Indians, ... More

This chapter presents a historical orientation and explanation of certain racial and ethnic categories, which are also discussed on the chapters on Chiapas and Oaxaca. It also discusses Indians, Mestizos, self-defined ethnicity, indigenous autonomy, and indigenismo.Less

Identity, Gender, and Power: Representational Juxtapositions in Early Formative Figurines from Oaxaca, Mexico

Jeffrey P. Blomster

in Mesoamerican Figurines: Small-Scale Indices of Large-Scale Social Phenomena

One of the artifact categories that when studied helps provide information regarding how villagers during the Early Formative period perceived themselves, the human body, and their social identity, ... More

One of the artifact categories that when studied helps provide information regarding how villagers during the Early Formative period perceived themselves, the human body, and their social identity, is clay figurines. Compared to other ceramic objects, these figurines depict physical and visual self-awareness. Not only did these figurines account for decisions regarding the miniaturization of the body form, they also served as media in which humans were able to formulate their understanding of embodiment. According to Douglass Bailey, these aided in expressing and in understanding relationships between individuals through “claiming and legitimating one's own identity or for suggesting and realigning the identity of others.” These figurines were widespread during a period of transformation in which new social roles were established in the early villages in Oaxaca, Mexico.Less

Women and Social Movements in Transborder Communities: Mexico and the United States

Lynn Stephen

in Rural Social Movements in Latin America: Organizing for Sustainable Livelihoods

This chapter discusses the ways that women from rural transborder migrant and immigrant communities are using bifocal vision to guide their participation in local, regional, and cross-border ... More

This chapter discusses the ways that women from rural transborder migrant and immigrant communities are using bifocal vision to guide their participation in local, regional, and cross-border organizations. It requires a reconceptualization of the ideas about communities in terms of how they function in relation to multiple sites. It also highlights the case of women from the Mixtec region of Oaxaca and their organizing efforts there and in the state of Oregon.Less

The children of Loxicha: participation beyond the UNCRC rhetoric?

Anne-Marie Smith

in Children, politics and communication: Participation at the margins

This chapter is based on the ethnographic research carried out in Oaxaca City, Mexico. It focuses on the lives of the displaced children of Loxicha, in particular their involvement in their ... More

This chapter is based on the ethnographic research carried out in Oaxaca City, Mexico. It focuses on the lives of the displaced children of Loxicha, in particular their involvement in their community's political struggle, and explores the challenges this involvement presents for existing notions of childhood and of child participation, as framed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It notes that the children of Loxicha have played a key role in their community's struggle, going on marches and participating in sit-ins and hunger strikes. It questions the ways in which the childhoods experienced by the Loxicha children are redefined to suit adult notions of ‘lost childhood’, overlooking the complex and multi-layered nature of their daily realities.Less