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Former social movement activists play a key role within the Mexican Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), yet little is known about the experiences of these social movement activists turned partisans since the party's consolidation and rise to national prominence. This study details how these actors struggle with ideological and strategic questions and the party's relationship with the social movement organizations from which they came. While ideological ambiguities within the party serve as a source of frustration for ex-social movement leaders, the strategic benefits of partisan involvement motivate them to continue with the party. Key words: Mexico, political parties, Partido de la Revolucion Democratica (PRD), political participation, social movement, political leadership, left, social movement activists, political activism, democracy. Los activistas anteriores de movimientos sociales han desempenado un papel clave dentro del Partido de la Revolucion Democratica (PRD) de Mexico, sin embargo poco se sabe de las experiencias de aquellos activistas de movimientos sociales vueltos partidarios desde la consolidacion del partido y su ascenso a la prominencia nacional. Este estudio destaca como estos actores se enfrentan a cuestiones ideologicas y estrategicas y la relacion del partido con los movimientos sociales de los cuales vinieron. Mientras las ambiguedades ideologicas adentro del partido sirven como fuente de frustracion para los ex lideres de movimientos sociales, las ventajas estrategicas de participacion partidista los motivan a continuar con el partido.

It is observed that state-building under the control of a central authority, and other state institutions are at cross-roads writhe liberalism i.e. the liberal rule of law and democracy, that limit's the central state's authority to coerce by ensuring that the rules of power reflect popular will.

A case study of three nongovernmental organizations that have taken a lesson from the Zapatistas and developed alternative practices of participatory democracy and autonomous development is illustrated. The practices include rule by obeying, resisting government programs, and strengthening cooperatives, and by implementing these, the neo-Zapatista networks are reembedding economic and political decision making in social values.

The Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (Asamblea Popular de los Puebios de Oaxaca - APPO) started as a result of violent repression of a teachers' strike in Oaxaca during the late spring of 2006. A description by a participant of APPO's process of decision making and increasingly popular representation of citizens' discontent with federal and Oaxacan state authorities during the critical month of August 2006 to the violent conformations with federal police and the military in late October and early November 2006, is presented.

To attract swing voters, the candidates will move left before the 2006 presidential election. But government policies are unlikely to follow--another sign of Mexico's embrace of democracy.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Mexican Congress instituted reforms to provide for democratic governance in the Distrito Federal (DF). The reform's impacts are examined through longitudinal surveys of DF city council members and the public, elite interviews, and elections analysis. DF governance provides for democratic elections for mayor, district administrators, and the city council, but government corruption undermines the fairness of elections. The mayor retains a great deal of formal policymaking authority relative to the weak city council. DF citizens ate denied democratic rights to influence public policies through the city council. The mayor has thwarted the council's democratic initiatives and advanced populist policies at the expense of long-term policies. En las descadas de 1980s y 1990s, el Congreso de Mexico instituyo reformas para proporcionar un gobierno democratico en el Distrito Federal (DF). Los impactos de las reformas estan examinados por encuestas longitudinales de los diputados locales y el publico, entrevistas con las elites y analisis de las elecciones. El gobierno del DF provee elecciones democraticas para jefe de gobierno del DF, jefes delegacionales y la Asamblea Legislativa del DF (ALDF), pero la corrupcion mina la limpieza de las elecciones. El jefe de gobierno del DF conserva una autoridad muy grande para hacer politicas en comparacion de una ALDF debil. A los ciudadanos del DF les faltan derechos democraticos para influir en las politicas publicas a traves de la ALDE El jefe de gobierno del DF ha frustrado las iniciativas de la ALDF y, en cambio, introduce politicas populares en vez de hacer politica a largo plazo.

Corruption is one of the most significant challenges confronting processes of democratic governability in Mexico. This article brings a methodological focus to bear on three sets of topics: (1) In what activities or instances of daily life do respondents claim to encounter corruption? (2) Who cares about corruption? That is, what is the salience of corruption to various groups? (3) What are the effects of perceptions of corruption on satisfaction with/support for democracy? Based on a secondary analysis of three data sets, our principal findings are that (1) the term, 'corruption,' has several different meanings for respondents; (2)government is viewed as only slightly more corrupt than society; (3) if we include bribes as corruption, a rather small subset of the samples (about a quarter) claim to have directly experienced bribery; and (4) perceptions of corruption negatively influence satisfaction with democracy, and those who perceive corruption to be a significant problem ate less likely to trust institutions or individuals. In addition to these findings, we speculate about a puzzle: If rather few respondents claim direct experience with corruption in their daily lives, why do so many express such firm and pessimistic views about corruption in so many distant spheres of political and social life? La corrupcion es uno de los retos mas importantes que enfrenta el proceso de gobernabilidad democratica en Mexico. El articulo presenta un enfoque metodologico para abordar tres preguntas: (1) segun los entrevistados, [??]en que actividades de la vida diaria se experimenta corrupcion?; (2) [??]a quien le importa la corrupcion?; es decir, [??]cual es la prominencia de la corrupcion para diferentes grupos?; y [??]cuales son los efectos de las percepciones de corrupcion en la apoyo y satisfaccion democratica? Basados en investigacion secundaria de tres bases de datos nuestros hallazgos son los siguientes: (1) la palabra, 'corrupcion,' tiene diferentes significados entre los entrevistados; (2) el gobierno es percibido solo ligeramente mas corrupto que la sociedad; (3) si incluimos las 'mordidas' como corrupcion, un subgrupo de la muestra (un cuarto aproximadamente) dice haber participado directamentc en los sobornos; y (4) las percepciones sobre la corrupcion afectan negativamente la satisfaccion con la democracia y aquellos que perciben que la corrupcion es un problema grave son menos propensos a confiar en las instituciones y en los individuos. Ademas, especulamos sobre un enigma: si son pocos quienes afirman tener una cxperiencia directa con la corrupcion, por que tantos expresan un firme y marcado pesimismo sobre la corrupcion en diversas esferas de la vida politica y social?

The purity of democratic institutions was the historical debate around Manifest Destiny, an extension of the purity concept of whiteness, and the evolution of two-party systems, a further extension of the structure of racialization expressing itself. The structure of racialization concretizes the process of invention of race and whiteness, in the seventeenth-century colonies, as it evolved alongside the juridical structure of slavery.

Mexico is making the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic society. It has significant criminal justice and public security challenges in this new era of its political history. Mexico's law enforcement institutions still lack accountability and the trust of the people. Although President Vicente Fox has declared that he will improve public security and reform law enforcement, he had failed to produce significant results thus far. In order for Fox to achieve these goals, he must implement institutional accountability and transparency, improve intelligence collection capabilities to combat organized crime and drug trafficking, and develop a more broad based economy that will benefit all of Mexico.

This essay explores how Americans, Mexican Americans, and Mexicans learn about politics, and specifically, their notions of democracy, using a comprehensive cross-national survey funded by the Hewlett Foundation. It identifies significant differences and similarities across groups, and raises important questions about the socialization process, about the resistance of certain attitudes to transformation in new cultural settings, and the ease with which major political views are altered within months of changing national residence. Language facility proves to be a significant variable in this process.