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.