Photo: “State building in San Miguel de Allende,” by Lisette Leballif licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. Hue modified from the original.
Olvera Rivera, Alberto J., and Víctor M. Andrade Guevara. “Persistent illiberalism: Democracy, authoritarianism, and politics in Veracruz.” Latin American Policy 12, no. 2 (2021): 589-602.
Abstract
This article aims to explain why, despite the democratic legal and institutional changes that have occurred in the political system in Veracruz over the last 30 years that now point to a competitive local electoral system, illiberal structures, and practices persist, through the continuity of a form of subnational authoritarianism. Examples of this system are the political controls exercised by regional caciques and union corporativism; the reproduction of clientelistic practices; the persistent problem of the low state institutional capacities; the lack of an effective division of powers; and—more recently—the empowerment of various organized crime groups. The justice system is broken by design. Political parties lack institutionality, credible leadership, and political programs. The public space is fragile and highly fragmented. Civil society is weak and very concentrated in the capital city at the federal level. Inequality and poverty are so widespread that working classes, peasants, indigenous peoples, and urban dwellers have no capacity to organize in an autonomous manner. This situation explains the persistence of illiberal structures and practices in the process of transition to and consolidation of democracy. Veracruz is an extreme example of all these processes.
