AGRARIAN REFORM AND POPULIST POLITICS A DISCUSSION OF STEPHEN SANDERSON'S AGRARIAN POPULISM AND THE MEXICAN STATE

In: Latin American perspectives: a journal on capitalism and socialism, Volume 12, Issue 3, p. 29-41

Abstract

STEPHEN SANDERSON'S AGRARIAN POPULISM AND THE MEXICAN STATE BEGINS WITH THE PREMISE THAT "THE SALVATION OR DESTRUCTION OF THE PRESENT MEXICAN REGIME MAY WELL REST WITH THAT ROUGHLY 40 PERCENT OF THE MEXICAN POPULACE WHO NOW FILL THE COUNTRYSIDE WITH THEIR HARD WORK AND THEIR POVERTY". ALTHOUGH HE DOES NOT ENTER THE DEBATE AS TO WHETHER URBAN OR RURAL POPULAR MOVEMENTS WILL BE THE DRIVING FORCE OF POSSIBLE FUTURE RADICAL SOCIAL CHANGE IN MEXICO, HIS ASSUMPTION IS CORRECT. THE PEASANTRY HAS BEEN A CENTRAL PILLAR OF SUPPORT (ALBEIT PASSIVE) FOR THE REGIME. TO SHAKE THAT PILLAR WOULD INDEED SHAKE THE REGIME TO ITS FOUNDATIONS. SANDERSON GRAPPLES WITH THE FORM AND CONTENT OF THE CONTRADICTIONS INHERENT IN THE INSTITUTIONALIZED MEXICAN REVOLUTION'S "POPULIST PACT." THE CAPITALIST ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROCESS COMBINED WITH THE REGIME'S HISTORIC SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS NECESSARILY GENERATE CONFLICTS BETWEEN PRIVATE ACCUMULATION AND PUBLIC EQUITY. SANDERSON'S POLITICAL ECONOMY APPROACH EXPLORES THE CHANGING NATURE OF THESE CONFLICTS OVER TIME, LEAVING THE READER WITH A CLEAR SENSE OF THE LOOSENING AND TIGHTENING OF THE STRUCTURAL LIMITS TO REFORM IN MEXICO. THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND EXTENDS TO A FULL DISCUSSION OF THE "LIBERAL LEGACY," THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY ROOTS OF THE DISPOSSESSION OF THE RURAL MAJORITY.