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Why do political actors undertake reforms that constrain their own discretion? We argue that uncertainty generated by political competition is a major driver of such reforms, and test this argument using subnational data onMexican states' adoption of state-level access to information (ATI) laws. Examining data from 31Mexican states plus the Federal District, we find that more politically competitive states passed ATI laws more rapidly, even taking into account the party in power, levels of corruption, civil society, and other factors. The fine-grained nature of our data, reflecting the staggered timing of elections, inauguration dates, and dates of passage, allows us to distinguish between different theoretical mechanisms. We find the greatest evidence in favor of an insurance mechanism, by which incumbent parties who face uncertainty over future political control seek to ensure access to government information, and means of monitoring incumbents, in the future in case they lose power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of drug trafficking in Mexico appears to be strongly influenced by specific features of the post-revolutionary authoritarian regime that has been characterized by its rampant corruption and poor levels of accountability. This is a rigorous empirical case study of state domination of the relationship with traffickers in a particular historical epoch and place. Based on research conducted through the examination of historic sources, this work explores the hypothesis that some political figures might have been colluding with members of criminal organizations, with the aim of protecting their businesses and fostering their consolidation. Such collusion has hindered the institutional functioning of key law enforcement and judicial institutions in the country. The present analysis considers these relationships in the course of three decades, the 1960s through the 1990s, and focuses on the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, where one of the most powerful and dangerous organized crime groups emerged, the so-called Gulf Cartel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elections in developing countries have increasingly become international events. Previous scholarship identifies many examples in which migrants from developing countries have played a role in financing elections in their home countries and provides cross-national evidence that migrants increase remittances in election years. However, previous cross-national analyses have been limited by their reliance on annual national-level data. This article provides statistical analyses of quarterly subnational data of remittance inflows to Mexican states and new monthly national-level data on remittance inflows for nine countries. These analyses demonstrate that political remittance cycles appear in the quarter prior to an election, can exist both for national and subnational elections, and are influenced by both economic conditions in migrants' host countries and political conditions in their home countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article explores the spontaneous and emotional dimensions of social protest and the expressive dimensions of constructing movement identities. It analyzes how a "party mood" that prevailed in a Mexico City social movement organization, the Asamblea de Barrios, created the conditions for the emergence of Superbarrio, a masked crusader for justice who used humor and drama to help the urban poor confront the corruption and mismanagement of the Mexican state. Superbarrio drew on Mexico's culture of wrestling and the wrestling audience's cognitive and emotional responses. He represented an innovation in the movement's action repertories that used the emotional dramaturgy of wrestling for framing purpose. This proved crucial in sustaining effective challenges to the authorities and led to dozens of imitators. This article argues that the public's response to strategic dramaturgy is mediated by the emotions dramatic representations of conflict arouse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]