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Rural democratization and decentralization at the state/society interface: What counts as ‘local’ government in the mexican countryside?

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 34; Issue: 3-4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03066150701802934

1743-9361

Jonathan Fox,

Income, Poverty, and Inequality

Abstract Rural local government in Mexico is contested terrain, sometimes representing the state to society, sometimes representing society to the state. In Mexico's federal system, the municipality is widely considered to be the ‘most local’ level of government, but authoritarian centralization is often reproduced within municipalities, subordinating smaller, outlying villages politically, economically and socially. Grassroots civic movements throughout rural Mexico have mobilized for community self-governance, leading to a widespread, largely invisible and ongoing ‘regime transition’ at the sub-municipal level. This study analyzes this unresolved process of political contestation in the largely rural, low-income states of Guerrero, Hidalgo, Oaxaca and Chiapas. Notes 1 On ‘invited spaces,’ see Cornwall 2002 Cornwall, Andrea. ‘Making Spaces, Changing Places: Situating Participation in Development,’. IDS Working Paper. (Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University). 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Democracia en tierras indígenas: Las elecciones en Los Altos de Chiapas [1991–1998], Mexico City: CIESAS/Colegio de Mexico/IFE. [Google Scholar]. 42 For a detailed study of this process in north-central municipalities of Chilón and Sitalá, in the context of broader racial and class conflict, see Bobrow-Strain 2007 Bobrow-Strain, Aaron. 2007. Intimate Enemies: Landowners, Power, and Violence in Chiapas, London and Durham, NC: Duke University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]. 43 See Chiapas Media Project [2004]. 44 Personal communication, Araceli Burguete, 10 April 10, 2006. Additional informationNotes on contributorsJonathan FoxThis article is a revised and abridged version of a chapter entitled ‘Decentralizing Decentralization: Mexico's Invisible Fourth Level of the State,’ from Fox (2007). The author is grateful for input from two reviewers, as well as the following Mexican activists and analysts Xóchitl Bada (Michoacán), Araceli Burguete (Chiapas), Juan Cisneros (Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí), Matoui Domínguez Escobedo (Veracruz), Carlos García (Guerrero), Flavio Lazos (Querétaro) and Fernando Melo (Oaxaca). Thanks also to Raju Das, Tom Brass, Jennifer Franco, Kent Eaton, Xóchitl Leyva and Jennifer Johnson for comments on earlier versions. All translations from Spanish are by the author.