Mexican Party System In The Process Of Modernization And Political Stability

The relationship between a Country’s party system and its political stability isdynamic and interactive rather than static. The party system of a Nation thatwell-adapted to its political stability in the past may impose negative effects on itspolitical stability when social environment has altered. The party system of Mexico,was established with an aim to assist the fledging Country in searching for an efficientpolitical platform to suit its developmental path as well as uniting domestic interestgroups and forces. Mexico’s one-party authoritarian regime constituted a miracle oflong-term political stability thanks to the Institutional Revolutionary Party leadershipwhich lasted for more than a half century. Nevertheless, the aging stability based onauthoritarian rules correspondingly contributed to a shift in the party system. Within acomparatively short period of time, from1970to2000, Mexico successfullyaccomplished political liberalization and democratization and thus, a hegemonic partysystem ultimately shifted to a democratic and competitive party system through asmooth transferring of power grip.This paper focuses on the dynamic and interactive relationship between Mexico’sparty system and its political stability in the process of modernization anddemocratization. Meanwhile, this paper also serves as a re-examination forHuntington’s theory of political order and a discussion on Mexico’s party system andpolitical development in a post-Huntington era.