REGIME ANALYSIS

Regime Analysis of Mexico

Regime Analysis of Mexico

Introduction

Mexico is a federal republic consisting of 31 states and a federal district. Mexico's political system has traditionally concentrated power in the executive branch, so that the president - who is the head of both the state and the government - exercises substantial executive authority (Levy 2006). Presidents are directly elected by a simple majority of registered voters in the 31 states and the federal district. Presidents serve a term of six years and cannot be re-elected. Unlike many other countries, the Mexican constitution does not account for a separate position of vice president. Legislative powers are entrusted with the bicameral congress (Randall 2006). The 128-seat senate is the upper house and the 500-seat Chamber of Deputies is the lower house. All congress members are barred from re-election, but are permitted to serve non-consecutive terms.

The constitution bestows upon congress the authority to pass laws, impose taxes, declare a state of emergency or war, endorse the national budget, approve or reject treaties with foreign entities, and sanction diplomatic appointments (Crandall 2005

This paper provides a comprehensive regime analysis of Mexico using Dahl analytical framework. In doing so, this paper first presents the current form of regime in Mexico. Following it, an overview of Mexico's government structure and its composition is presented. A regime analysis using Dahl analytical framework reviews the country's regime from post-independence to date. Based on the analyses, the paper briefs the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as they relate to the country's regime. Finally, an outlook for future for Mexico's regime is given to support the conclusion.

Current form of Regime in Mexico

According to the country's Constitution called the Supreme Power of the Federation, government consists of the three branches: executive, legislative and judicial. The Mexico City is the capital of the federation, the Federal District and the headquarters of the powers of the Union. The three branches are independent, two powers cannot dress on one person or institution, and the legislature can never be dressed on a single individual. The legislature lies with the Congress; a bicameral Congress consists of the Senate and House of Representatives (Randall 2006). The Chamber of Deputies is responsible for everything related to the budget and federal spending.

Chamber of Deputies

The Chamber of Deputies consists of 500 representatives of the citizens of the nation. All members are elected through free elections, universal and secret ballot every three years in a system of parallel voting: 300 deputies are elected through single-member majoritarian scrutiny or plurality (called uninominal) in each of the districts of similar population size, while the other 200 are elected through proportional representation (called multi-member deputies) with open party lists from five large districts in which the country is divided. Members can not be reelected for the next immediate period. Since the system of election of deputies is a complementary system of parallel voting, proportionality of party votes is confined exclusively to the multi-member section of the deputies (Crandall 2005).

Senate

The Senate is composed of 128 representatives of the states of the federation. All Senators are elected through free elections, universal and secret ballot every six years without immediate reelection in ...