Family Relationships in Mexican Politics: A Preliminary View

Does the pattern of ties to politically active families followed by Mexican presidents accurately reflect the place of kinship ties in the recruitment of other political leaders, or have political families generally been more extensive in the Mexican political system? The purpose of this paper is to examine the presence of kindship ties among political leaders in Mexico since 1935, and to speculate on the reasons for their presence and the extent of their influence on certain political careers. The paper finds that the importance of these ties has not declined, and that their incidence is affected strongly by several variables, including age, family background, and place and type of education. The implications of these findings for turnover and succession, and modernization in Mexico are discussed.