Mexican Popular Movements, Clientelism, and the Process of Democratization

The study of new social movements in Latin America has proven irresistibly attractive to many scholars. Examining these movements allows us to explore the formation of new identities, the emergence of new political and social actors, the creation of new political space, and the overall expansion of civil society. While all or any of these phenomena seem sufficiently intriguing to claim our attention in their own right, the most common rationale offered for the study of new movements is their apparent link to the democratization process. Through the last decade, in books, articles, and, above all, doctoral dissertations produced around the globe, scholars have justified their interest in new social movements in terms of the presumed importance of these organizations in the consolidation of democratic institutions. Most theorists writing in this field would agree with Alvarez and Escobar (1991) that these movements have “a democratizing impact on political culture and daily life” and “contribute to the democratization process.” The problem for most analysts is that we do not know enough about how this takes place, that is, the way in which “grassroots democratic practices are transferred into the realm of political institutions and the state.” When I look at the gap between the broader theoretical discussions of the question and