Overview

When Mexico's authoritarian Party of the Institutional Revolution (PRI) was defeated in the 2000 presidential election after seventy-one years of uninterrupted rule, many analysts believed the party would inevitably splinter and collapse. An authoritarian party without control over government resources and without a strong national executive creates both opportunity and incentive for ambitious politicians to leave the party and join a separate faction. To the surprise of many, however, the PRI managed to deviate from this pattern, and returned triumphantly to the presidency in 2012. Democratization and Authoritarian Party Survival: Mexico's PRI argues that those authoritarian parties that survive the transition to democratic elections do so because they are able to adjust to electoral challenges and the rigors of the ballot box more quickly and effectively than their internal party rivals. Such as in the case of the PRI, these electorally-oriented vote winners find ways to cooperate and avoid the dangers of internal ruptures. Those authoritarian parties in which vote-winning factions are unable to defeat their intra-party rivals, or those that divide and fragment, are less likely to survive the transition to democratic voting. Despite the interest in Mexico's former hegemonic party and its return to power, no full-length monograph has been dedicated to studying its transformation. This book takes a long lens view of authoritarian party survival and zeros in on the transformation of Mexico's PRI, making a substantive and novel contribution to the wider literature on party organizational change, authoritarian party survival, and democratization.

Full Product Details

9780190628550

Table of Contents

Reviews

"""Over a decade in the making, this may be the most authoritative text anywhere on how dominant parties adapt to changing electoral circumstances. It is most certainly the definitive book in any language on Mexico's Party of the Institutional Revolution and how that party adapted in democratic and authoritarian times to party competition, a changing electorate, and Mexico's modernizing economy. Joy Langston has interviewed scores of party leaders and pieced together secondary sources and bibliography to construct a masterpiece in contemporary political science. The author combines theoretical sophistication, shrewd political insight, and exhaustive interviewing, observation, and strong empirical analysis. It is a tour-de-force and a 'must-read' for anyone interested in political parties, electoral politics, democratization and/or Latin American politics."" --Todd A. Eisenstadt, Professor of Government, American University ""Joy Langston has devoted more than a decade in examining how the Institutional Revolutionary Party has succeeded in making the transition from its dominant, semi-authoritarian role in Mexican politics, to the competitive, institutional actor in the current electoral arena. Her painstaking, original research, focused on dozens of interviews with top party politicians, offers valuable insights combined with convincing empirical evidence explaining how the party succeeded in making its notable comeback in the 2012 presidential contest. Anyone wishing to acquire an understanding of the intriguing components of PRI's altered recruitment and party behavior, including unique comparisons with Kenyan and Taiwanese transitions, needs to read this outstanding work."" --Roderic Ai Camp, McKenna Professor of the Pacific Rim, Claremont McKenna College ""Democratization and Authoritarian Party Survival: Mexico's PRI is the most significant account of arguably the most successful political party in the world, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional in Mexico. The richness of Langston's account comes from a deep acquaintance with the party and its members. No other scholar in Mexico or abroad has such first-hand experience in interviewing hundreds of party members over a significant era of political and institutional transformation. Her analysis is particularly masterful in her understanding of the party in the legislature and the interplay between national and gubernatorial politics. Beyond Latin American specialists, this book deserves to be read by any scholar seeking to understand the logic of party politics in developing countries today."" --Alberto Diaz-Cayeros, Senior Fellow (FSI) and Director of the Center for Latin American Studies, Stanford University"

""Over a decade in the making, this may be the most authoritative text anywhere on how dominant parties adapt to changing electoral circumstances. It is most certainly the definitive book in any language on Mexico's Party of the Institutional Revolution and how that party adapted in democratic and authoritarian times to party competition, a changing electorate, and Mexico's modernizing economy. Joy Langston has interviewed scores of party leaders and pieced together secondary sources and bibliography to construct a masterpiece in contemporary political science. The author combines theoretical sophistication, shrewd political insight, and exhaustive interviewing, observation, and strong empirical analysis. It is a tour-de-force and a 'must-read' for anyone interested in political parties, electoral politics, democratization and/or Latin American politics."" --Todd A. Eisenstadt, Professor of Government, American University ""Joy Langston has devoted more than a decade in examining how the Institutional Revolutionary Party has succeeded in making the transition from its dominant, semi-authoritarian role in Mexican politics, to the competitive, institutional actor in the current electoral arena. Her painstaking, original research, focused on dozens of interviews with top party politicians, offers valuable insights combined with convincing empirical evidence explaining how the party succeeded in making its notable comeback in the 2012 presidential contest. Anyone wishing to acquire an understanding of the intriguing components of PRI's altered recruitment and party behavior, including unique comparisons with Kenyan and Taiwanese transitions, needs to read this outstanding work."" --Roderic Ai Camp, McKenna Professor of the Pacific Rim, Claremont McKenna College ""Democratization and Authoritarian Party Survival: Mexico's PRI is the most significant account of arguably the most successful political party in the world, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional in Mexico. The richness of Langston's account comes from a deep acquaintance with the party and its members. No other scholar in Mexico or abroad has such first-hand experience in interviewing hundreds of party members over a significant era of political and institutional transformation. Her analysis is particularly masterful in her understanding of the party in the legislature and the interplay between national and gubernatorial politics. Beyond Latin American specialists, this book deserves to be read by any scholar seeking to understand the logic of party politics in developing countries today."" --Alberto Diaz-Cayeros, Senior Fellow (FSI) and Director of the Center for Latin American Studies, Stanford University

Author Information

Joy K. Langston is Professor of Political Science, Centro de Investigaci�n y Docencia Econ�micas (CIDE).

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