Mixed messages about democratization in the many Mexicos

Abstract

The subnational variations within a country as diverse asMexico can be as strong as the variation in democratic quality between different countries. In this article we present Mexico as an exemplary case study and build ananalytical framework aimed at capturing the complexityof subnational democratization processes. The article argues that in a process of democratization, differents structures and practices coexist they mix, or become entangled. The entanglement of political structures and practices in a context of electoral democracy produces different configurations of subnational politics. The frameworkwe propose seeks to identify the liberal and illiberal structures that are entangled in each state,through the examination of 12 dimensions that, based onprevious studies, are considered relevant for Mexican subnational politics.