Freshman Seminar 30v Mondays 2-4PM Mexico: Revolution, Authoritarianism, and Democracy: 100 Years Course website: https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/27313 Jorge I. Domínguez, Professor CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge St., #K216 Jorge_Dominguez@harvard.edu, telephone 5-5982 Office hours: Monday and Tuesdays, 11-12 Rationale Mexico, a U.S. neighbor, over the past century experienced a prolonged violent revolutionary war and subsequent transformation, established one of the world s longest-lived authoritarian regimes, and in this century has been building a democratic political system. The combination of these three dramatic moments is rare worldwide. Most countries in the past century have had only one or two such moments, not all three. Why did Mexicans kill each other so relentlessly for so long? Why did they build, from the rulers perspective, perhaps the world s most effective authoritarian regime? Why was the democratic transition so slow moving and what forms did it take? What has been the role of statesmen and scoundrels, business executives and indigenous movements, political parties and the binational communities on the U.S.-Mexico border? Examine why Mexico had no Lenin and no Mandela. Ponder why some Bishops in the 1920s ordered priests to refuse the sacraments, and why such an ethnically heterogeneous country lacks ethnic-based political parties. Examine the collective wisdom of democratic politics, steering a successful transition since the late 1990s. Structure The course has three parts: revolution, authoritarian politics, and democratic politics. Part I relies on The Cambridge History of Latin America as its textbook, reading eminent historians, supplemented by readings with regard to ethnicity, gender, religion, labor unions, and the U.S. border issues. Part I also examines the rise of authoritarian rule. Carlos Fuentes best novel closes Part I, a critical retrospective view on the revolution and its aftermath. Part II considers economic growth, the authoritarian presidency, repression and rebellion, the mass media, and political parties. Part III focuses on the democratic regime since 2000, looking at the transition, the functioning and malfunctioning of the democratic regime, changes in society and economy, and relations with the United States. Requirements: Three 300-500 response papers One 750 paper One 2000-2500 paper Students write a response paper (300-500 words) in each of the three Parts of the course. The response paper is due before the start of the discussion of the readings on which the paper is based. By September 25, students write a paper (750 words) on one of the following topics: 1. Impersonate Carlos Fuentes. Rewrite the script for the first film documentary. 1
2. Impersonate a Roman Catholic Bishop. Argue in favor, and then argue against, prohibiting public mass at all churches in your dioceses. 3. Impersonate President Lázaro Cárdenas. What are the pros and cons of amending the Constitution to enable him to run for reelection? Write a paper (2000-2500 words) due on December 9, the first day of final examination period. Consult with the instructor. Part I: The Mexican Revolution 1. Revolution I: Breakdown, War, and the Start of a New Order, August 30 Mexico: Revolution, #101, Frontline, WGBH TV Educational Foundation, Record Date 11/8/88, Jorge I. Domínguez, chief editorial adviser. Read these two texts in this four-part sequence: Hernández Chávez, Alicia, Mexico: A Brief History, tr. Andy Klatt (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 204-213 The Cambridge History of Latin America, vol. V, ed. L. Bethell (Cambridge University Press, 1986): John Womack, Jr., The Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920, 82-93, 98-102 Hernández Chávez, 218-233 The Cambridge History, Womack, 105-112, 118-119, 122-123, 126-131, 149-153 2. Revolution II: Who Are the Mexicans? September 11 The Cambridge History of Latin America, vol. V, ed. L. Bethell (Cambridge University Press, 1986): Jean Meyer, Mexico: Revolution and Reconstruction in the 1920s, 155-194 Focus on two of the following three: Heath, Shirley Brice, Telling Tongues: Language Policy in Mexico (Teachers College Press, 1972), 81-98 Ramos Escandón, Carmen, Women and Power in Mexico: The Forgotten Heritage, 1880-1954, in Women s Participation in Mexican Political Life, ed. V. Rodríguez (Westview, 1998), 87-101 Bailey, David C., Viva Cristo Rey!: The Cristero Rebellion and the Church-State Conflict in Mexico (University of Texas Press, 1974), 46-50, 54-55, 61, 69, 76-79, 81-83, 94-100, 107-111, 137, 142-143, 217, 299-312 2
3. Revolution III: Revolutionary Rule and Its Demise, September 18 The Cambridge History of Latin America, vol. VII, ed. L. Bethell (Cambridge University Press, 1990): Alan Knight, Mexico, c. 1930-1946, 3-63 Lorey, David, The U.S.-Mexican Border in the Twentieth Century (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999), 69-75 (migration) Huntington, Samuel, Political Order in Changing Societies (Yale University Press, 1968), 315-324 4. Interpreting the Mexican Revolution and Its Aftermath, September 25 [Purchase at The Coop or view at Lamont Library Reserves] Fuentes, Carlos, The Death of Artemio Cruz (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1964) [Paper due by October 2] Part II: The Perfect Dictatorship 5. Economic Growth and Protectionism, October 2 Mexico: From Boom to Bust, #102 Frontline, WGBH TV Educational Foundation, Record Date 11/8/88, Jorge I. Domínguez, chief editorial adviser. Haber, Stephen, and H. Klein, N. Maurer, and K. Middlebrook, Mexico since 1980 (Cambridge University Press, 2008), 20-65 ( Mexico before 1982 ) Lorey, The U.S.-Mexican Border in the Twentieth Century, 93-114 Business International Corp., Nationalism in Latin America (1970), 42 (Bendix International case) 6. The Authoritarian Presidency, October 16 Krauze, Enrique, Mexico: Biography of Power (HarperCollins, 1997), 538-600 (Miguel Alemán presidency) Scott, Robert, Mexican Government in Transition (Revised edition. University of Illinois Press, 1964), 244-261 (the institution of the presidency) 3
Castañeda, Jorge, Perpetuating Power: How Mexican Presidents Were Chosen (The New Press, 2000), ix-xvii, 3-5 (the selection of Luis Echeverría) 7. Repression, Rebellion, Intimidation, and Killings, October 23 Krauze, Mexico: Biography of Power, 694-731 (1968 student protest) Zolov, Eric, Refried Elvis: The Rise of the Mexican Counterculture (University of California Press, 1999), 201-233 Levy, Daniel, and Gabriel Székely, Mexico: Paradoxes of Stability and Change (Second edition. Westview, 1987), 87-104 ( political freedom ) Womack, Jr., John, Rebellion in Chiapas (The New Press, 1999), 3-4, 11-13, 20-23, 30-45 8. Parties, Voters, Mass Media, and Politics of the Perfect Dictatorship, October 30 Lawson, Chappell, Building the Fourth Estate: Democratization and the Rise of a Free Press in Mexico (University of California Press, 2002), 13-16 Mizrahi, Yemile, From Martyrdom to Power: The Partido Acción Nacional in Mexico (University of Notre Dame Press, 2003), 17-27, 51-60, 64-65 Bruhn, Kathleen, Taking on Goliath: The Emergence of a New Left Party and the Struggle for Democracy in Mexico (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997), 31, 39-51, 55, 58-60 Greene, Kenneth, Why Dominant Parties Lose: Mexico s Democratization in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2007), 71-95, 101-107 Part III: Democratizing Mexico 9. Enacting the Democratic Transition, November 6 Domínguez, Jorge I., and James McCann, Democratizing Mexico (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), 1-2, 17-22 Lawson, Building the Fourth Estate, 173-180, 185-188, 192, 194, 196-200, 207 Mizrahi, From Martyrdom to Power, 67-88 Bruhn, Taking on Goliath, 165-177, 180-184, 190, 194-199, 202-203 Greene, Why Dominant Parties Lose, 210-244, 252-254 4
10. Democratic Politics and Prosperity, November 13 Domínguez, Jorge I., Conclusion: Early Twenty-first Century Democratic Governance in Latin America, in Constructing Democratic Governance in Latin America, ed. J.I. Domínguez and M. Shifter (Fourth edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013), 342-343 Domínguez, Jorge I., Mexico s 2012 Presidential Election: Conclusions, in Mexico s Evolving Democracy: A Comparative Study of the 2012 Elections (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015), 252-268 Loaeza, Soledad, Vicente Fox s Presidential Style and the New Mexican Presidency, Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos 22:1 (2006): 3-32 http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdfplus/10.1525/msem.2006.22.1.3.pdf Camp, Roderic Ai, Politics in Mexico: The Democratic Consolidation (Fifth edition. Oxford University Press, 2007), 138, 142-155, 162-164 (groups) Blancarte, Roberto, Churches, Believers, and Democracy, in Mexico s Democratic Challenges, ed. A. Selee and J. Peschard (Stanford University Press, 2010), 281-295 De la Calle, Luis, and Luis Rubio, Mexico: A Middle Class Society, Poor No More, Developed Not Yet (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2012), 18-19, 21-22, 28-29, 31-32, 34-36, 40-45, 56, 58, 62-65, 70-74, 81 http://wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/mexico%20a%20middle%20class%20society.pdf 11. Indigenous Peoples and Crime and Violence, November 20 Eisenstadt, Todd, Indigenous Attitudes and Ethnic Identity Construction in Mexico, Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos 22:1 (2006): 107-130 http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdfplus/10.1525/msem.2006.22.1.107.pdf Stavenhagen, Rodolfo, Struggle and Resistance: The Nation s Indians in Transition, in Mexico s Democratic Challenges, 251-266 Institute for Economics and Peace, Mexico Peace Index 2016, 4, 21-24, 109-110 http://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2017/04/mexico-peace-index-2016_english.pdf Dell, Melissa, Trafficking Networks and the Mexican Drug War, American Economic Review 105:6 (2015), 1738-1747, 1752-1756, 1758-1762, 1776 http://pubs.aeaweb.org.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/aer.20121637 5
Magaloni, Beatriz, and Guillermo Zepeda, Democratization and Law Enforcement Institutions, and the Rule of Law in Mexico, in Dilemmas of Political Change in Mexico, ed. K. Middlebrook (Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London, 2004), 168-196 12. Mexico and the United States: Contemporary Topics, November 27 Domínguez, Jorge I., and Rafael Fernández de Castro, U.S.-Mexican Relations: Coping with Domestic and International Crises, in Contemporary U.S.-Latin American Relations, ed. J.I. Domínguez and R. Fernández de Castro (Second edition. Routledge, 2016), 30-56 Fox, Jonathan, Assessing Binational Civil Society Coalitions: Lessons from the Mexico-U.S. Experience, in Dilemmas of Political Change in Mexico, ed. K. Middlebrook (Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London, 2004), 466-467, 478-488, 491-501, 508-509 Pilcher, Jeffrey, Mexico s Pepsi Challenge: Traditional Cooking, Mass Consumption, and National Identity, in Fragments of a Golden Age: The Politics of Culture in Mexico since 1940, ed. G. Joseph, A. Rubenstein, and E. Zolov (Duke University Press, 2001), 71-73, 79-88 Corona Beer (A), Harvard Business School Case 9-502-023, pp. 1-13; Corona Beer (B), Harvard Business School Case 9-503-037, 2 pp. (2004) Wilson, Christopher, Growing Together: Economic Ties between the United States and Mexico (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Mexico Institute, 2017), 7-11 (joint production) https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/growing_together_economic_ties_between_the_ united_states_and_mexico.pdf Selee, Andrew, A New Migration Agenda between the United States and Mexico, in Charting a New Course: Policy Options for the Next Stage in U.S.-Mexico Relations, ed. Duncan Wood (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Mexico Institute, 2017), 67-79 https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/charting_a_new_course.pdf [Final paper due, December 9] 6