Political Dynasties and Democracy in Contemporary Mexico

BEHREND, JACQUELINE

Hradec Kralové

Seminario; Seminario de Investigación; 2022

Philosophical Faculty, University of Hradec Kralové

The existence of political families is a well‐known fact inMexican politics. Since the early 20th century, national andsubnational politicians in Mexico have been related to otherpoliticians. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mexico initiateda democratization process that opened the political system togreater contestation, participation, and enforcement of electoralrules. Yet, 30 years after the onset of democratizationand the demise of single‐party rule, political families and dynastiescontinue to be important in Mexican politics. It is evenmore noticeable at the subnational level, where governorswith blood or marital links to other politicians have governedin 27 of the 32 states (84%) since 1989. The aim of this articleis to map the existence of subnational political dynasties inMexico since the transition to democracy and to analyze somepossible explanations of this phenomenon. The article makesthree main contributions. First, it provides a comprehensiveoverview of the family relations of all governors elected to the32 federal entities (states and the autonomous Mexico City)since 1989. Next, it explores some of the explanations advancedby the literature and analyses them in the Mexicancase. Finally, it analyses the 2021 gubernatorial elections andthe role that family politics played in these elections.