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Marcus gustafsson
Allegations of voting fraud haunted both the 1988 and 1994 elections
(McCann & Domínguez 1998: 483-484). The first election in which the
PRI lost the Presidency was in 2000, to the National Action Party (PAN),
which won again in 2006. In the most recent election in 2012, the PRI
reclaimed power. While all of these elections have been marred by allegations of voting fraud, none of them seem to have been substantial
(Economist 2012). It may be argued that widespread corruption2 indicates a poor democratic commitment among politicians, since it has a
direct impact on transparency and the need for policy to be based on
expressions of preference, as in Dahl’s eighth criteria. In addition, the
involvement of international democracy organisations in the 1994 election, a pivotal time for the shaping of Mexican political culture, was
surprisingly weak (Fox 2004: 494).
In contrast, West Germany experienced a unique situation following
Germany’s defeat in the Second World War. Firstly, the three occupying
powers (Britain, France and the United States) constituted a benevolent
military dictatorship, with a clear commitment to instituting democracy
in West Germany (Welzel 2009: 88). Secondly, on evaluating the failures
of the Weimar Republic previous to the war, the mistakes of the past
could be avoided. The democratic commitment among the political elite
was therefore unusually strong, ushering in a democratic constitution
and independent political institutions. Welzel lists West Germany as a
typical example of “imposed democratization” (2009: 88). In addition,
the allied powers were “committed to an extensive program of re-education designed to change German political values and attitudes so that
the formal democratic institutions … would have widespread popular
support” (Conradt 1989: 213). Mexico, on the other hand, has enjoyed
no such top-down democratic enhancement. The difference is striking
and will likely have had a decisive impact on the pace of consolidation.
2 Mexico is ranked 106 out of 183 countries in the Corruptions Perception Index (Transparency International 2011:5).