Abstract

This thesis deals with Mexico’s transition to democracy, and its problems of consolidation.

Mexico has an authoritarian heritage which still, eight years after the historic election in

2000 and the coming of an electoral democracy, causes great problems in society. The thesis

deals mainly with

civil society, political society, and the rule of law. As a framework for the

thesis, a transition model developed by Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan, called the “

five arenas”

is used. As Mexico in year 2000 for the first time in 70 years had a change o regime,

many Mexicans believed that this was the end to the corporatist style of the “old” system,

and that many problems would disappear if Mexico would be democratic. However, this

was not the case. Mexico has huge problems in consolidating its democracy, and new

problems have developed.

This thesis tries to identify the areas which have been important to the democratization

process in Mexico, and how these areas function today. It does so from an historical perspective

since much of today’s problems have roots in the past. The past is then connected

to contemporary Mexico, dealing mostly with the period until 2006, when the winning

party from the election in 2000 the PAN, confirmed their success when they won again in

2006, but with the smallest margin even in Mexican history. The poor electoral performance

of the PAN was a result of unsuccesfull politics with many promises but little change.

This thesis also identifies the lack of

accountability as a key-term to explain some of the failures

of society to implement democratic measures in all areas of society.