Between Hegemonic System and Perfect Dictatorship: ideas of democracy in Mexico during the transition (1968–1988)

Author(s)

Júlio Matzenbacher Zampietro

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
• Defense date: 2025-03-14

Examining board members

José Alves de Freitas Neto; Ivia Minelli; Larissa Jacheta Riberti

• Advisor: José Alves de Freitas Neto

Abstract

This dissertation delves into debates regarding the possibilities of democracy in Mexico between 1968 and 1988, amid the country's long process of democratic transition in the decades following 1968. The study was conducted through an analysis of the intellectual production of two distinct groups within the proposed chronological scope, as it emerged in the pages of the magazines Plural (1971-76), Vuelta (1976-1998), and Cuadernos Políticos (1974-1990). Beyond the natural ebbs and flows of political events and intellectual thought over such an extensive period, some important conclusions were drawn. Regarding the first group, formed around the figure of Octavio Paz (Plural and Vuelta), it was possible to trace a conceptual trajectory that begins with an argument for a French-style democratic socialism, then undergoes a crisis as political events reveal to the group that the Mexican state is unavoidable in matters of democratization, and ultimately culminates in an argument in favor of "democracy without adjectives," an interpretation of the term focused on electoral issues. The second group (Cuadernos Políticos), whose thought was rooted in Marxism, followed a different path. Initially advocating for union democratization as the ideal political course for Mexico at the time, the changing political context at the end of the 1970s also brought a crisis, stemming from the perception that this approach had become unfeasible. In response, the intellectuals publishing in Cuadernos Políticos turned to the mobilization of organized civil society as a way to circumvent a state that, until then, had appeared insurmountable. The findings of this dissertation allow us to conclude that the analysis of the democratic ideologies of both groups reaffirms the centrality of the 1970s and 1980s in shaping democratization projects and the democracy ultimately achieved in the country. This is because it was possible to trace the genealogy of ideas that remain at the heart of political debates in Mexico to this day (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 22/01449-0 - Between Hegemonic System and dictadura perfecta: Definitions of Democracy in Mexico during the Transition
• Grantee: Júlio Matzenbacher Zampietro
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master