Research Activities
- Mexico's 2006 Elections
- November 30 - December 2, 2006
- This is closed to the public.
- This project will examine Mexico's new democratic system through the lens of electoral politics. Who sets the agenda in Mexican electoral campaigns? To what extent does this agenda involve, engage, or ignore ordinary citizens? And how does the process of “issue emergence” in Mexico differ from electoral dynamics in more established democracies? These questions go to the heart of Mexico's new democratic system. Modern democracy consists of a chain of delegations from citizens to leaders, through which popular preferences are theoretically translated into public policy. Although this process of translation involves much more than elections alone, elections do constitute a key mechanism of accountability and representation in democratic systems. How electoral campaigns come to focus on a particular set of issues—out of an almost infinite possible set—thus matters crucially for the operation of democracy. The role of elections may be especially important in many new democracies, where democratic norms and institutions outside of the electoral sphere are often less developed. In such a context, elections probably constitute citizens' best chance to influence political debate. If “the people” cannot make themselves heard in that arena, either directly or indirectly, they cannot hope to exercise much control over public policy.
- Field of Interest: Comparative Politics
- Conference Chair
- Domínguez, Jorge I.
- Chairman, Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies; Senior Adviser; Faculty Associate. Antonio Madero Professor of Mexican and Latin American Politics and Economics, Department of Government, and Vice Provost for International Affairs, Harvard University.
- Lawson, Chappell H.
- Associate Professor of Political Science; Director, MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI), Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- Contact Information
Uva, Monet- Staff Assistant.
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