Response to classmate #1
The government system that resulted from the Revolution was a dictablanca under the PRI. “The consolidation of one-party rule under the leadership of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revoludonario Institutional, PRI)” was accomplished by drawing legitimacy from the actions of the Revolution and by painting all of the Revolutionary leaders as unified and as the foundation of this system (McCormick Page 2). This system meant that Mexico was under a one party system for the vast majority of the 20th century and that the PRI wrote the rules. The PRI essentially chose each new president instead of allowing for a full on electoral democracy. Another aspect that contributed to this system being a distablanca was the reliance upon patronage politics. The use of patronage had been used in Mexican politics for a long time, especially in authoritarian regimes such as Diaz’s. It was again prevalent under the PRI in order to quiet dissention and stop rival political movements from flourishing. The formation of a one party system and the use of patronage politics that came after the Revolution were some of the reasons that Mexico became an authoritarian government.
response to classmate #2
In the reading by Osten Out of the Shadows, she covered the impact of violence during and after the Revolution impacted the governmental institution. Although Mexico did not resort to military authoritarianism after the Revolution like other countries in the region, The assassination of opposition leaders and the purge of their supporters was ruthless but inarguably effective (Osten, 170). The assassination of opposing parties is the first way the Revolution resulted in authoritarian government because it perpetuated leaving the control of the country in the hands of the same small group of elite individuals. This shows how political violence was the inevitable legacy of a single party-dominated system (Osten, 171) which would become the PRI.
Another way the Revolution resulted in an authoritarian government was due to the support the PRI ended up having from rural people in Mexico. McCormick asks why rural people, that were so willing to take up arms to protect their way of life during the 1910 revolution, also disproportionately supported the PRI-led state in post-1940s Mexico despite the fact that it actively undermined them (5, McCormick). This was because of the false promises that were fed to the rural population starting during the Revolution and continuing into the PRI government.
