This excellent analysis of politics in Jalapa, capital of the state of Veracruz, offers a great deal more than the conventional community power study. In terms of Mexican local government it presents a sophisticated and suggestive picture not simply of who governs but of how the city is governed, and why. Perhaps more important, despite a careful disclaimer by the authors, the observations made in this case study have far wider application than a single municipio or simply Mexican government at the local level. Because Jalapa is a state capital and a medium sized city, it plays a somewhat more representative role in national politics than might first appear. As the authors of this study point out, much of what city governments and political movements do (or cannot do) is influenced by state level cooptation of authority and resources, and state government actions in turn are structured by the central authorities and laws. Many pressures for or constraints against action affecting Jalapa, then, are not unlike those working on most fair sized municipalities throughout Mexico. My own feeling is that although its findings focus on the local level Politics and Privilege in a Mexican City offers more useful insights into the country’s general political system than any study published during the past five years.
Professors Fagen and Tuohy have employed an effective range of investigatory techniques to prepare this well-rounded work. In addition to reviewing standard newspaper and documentary materials, they used two waves of depth interviews with local influentials and a Jalapa-wide sample survey of the city’s adult residents, as described in the 27 pages making up three methodological appendices. Among the materials covered in the study are discussions of Mexico’s general political system as well as that of Jalapa. Specific consideration is given to questions of inequality and advantage, political orientations of Jala-peños, balance and tension in the political system, and longer range perspectives on politics. Taken as a whole, the subjects covered offer a sensitive and comprehensive description of an ongoing municipal political system, balancing faults and accomplishments admirably.
These well-merited words of praise do not mean that this volume is the last word on Mexico’s present political situation. Most of the planning and field work for the study was carried on between 1965 and 1967, leaving a lag of five years between research and publication. This delay is both evident and significant, because a speedup in change and its dislocations has been particularly marked recently. The so-called student Olympic riots of 1968 and the Corpus Christi disturbances of 1971 are but indicators of more widespread political difficulties. The research design could not include measure of the reactions of Jalapeños to the series of municipal election losses suffered by the dominant Revolutionary party during the last half of the 1960s, or follow through on the abortive attempts of Carlos Madrazo to reorganize some activities of the PRI. Certainly the authors could not consider the implications for local government of certain democratizing changes in nominating and selection procedures of the PRI for both party offices and governmental position election candidates adopted by the Seventh National Assembly of the Revolutionary party in October, 1972. Nonetheless, the discussions presented in this book go far to explain why these more recent political conditions obtain, and even how some of the problems now faced by the Revolutionary party might be eased or resolved.
