Corporatism in Mexico: An analysis of government-labor relations, 1982-1985

Mexico's vision of economic growth was shattered in 1982 when the continued drop in the price of petroleum and the overall sluggish performance of its domestic economy pushed the nation to near bankruptcy. In order to restore international confidence in Mexico the government instituted an austerity plan that devalued the peso, ended certain government subsidies, closed certain government-owned companies, and set limits on salary increases. The cumulative effect of the austerity plan weakened workers' purchasing power by approximately one-half between 1982-1985.;The purposes of this study are twofold. First, it analyzes the development of the theory of corporatism and formulates an analytical framework of relations between a corporatist state and a state-sanctioned group. Second, it applies the framework to relations between the Mexican government and organized labor over the four year span. Thus, the study offers an explanation of how and why the Mexican labor movements' protests have been quelled by the government's ability to both negotiate strategically with labor over key issues and to act decisively when unrest is on the threshold of spreading.