How to (Un)Build a Democracy: The Mexican Case

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During his Kellogg visiting fellowship, Fernando Ojesto Martínez Manzur will work on his project, “How to (Un)Build a Democracy: The Mexican Case,” which explores the challenges of building a democratic system and the ease with which it can be dismantled. Democracy worldwide, particularly in Latin America, is under attack. The Mexican experience will be the basis of this research, especially because it is a great example of how an electoral democracy was built; but unfortunately, it also serves as an ongoing example of how democracy can be “unbuilt” or dismantled.

The project is divided into two main sections. The first section will analyze how a democracy is built, focusing on the democratic transition that Mexico underwent from 1977 to 2018. This section will outline the necessary and foundational requirements for building a democracy. The second part of the research will examine the current state of democracy in Mexico and how a 40-year democratic process has been disrupted in the past six years. Since 2018, democracy and its institutions have faced a constant threat, orchestrated by the government and its ruling party. This threat, rooted in the concept of political majorities, has escalated into a reality following the 2024 election, where the governing party secured almost complete control, including a supermajority in Congress, granting them the power to amend the Constitution. This part of the research will aim to understand the dismantling process Mexican democracy is undergoing.