Mexico's pivotal democratic election : candidates, voters, and the presidential campaign of 2000 /

By most accounts Mexico's presidential election in 2000 was pivotal in Mexican political history. For the first time since its creation in 1929 the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) lost the presidency to a candidate (Vicente Fox) from the major opposition party, the Partido Accion Nacional (PAN). Furthermore, voter coercion and just plain fraud were significantly lower than in prior years. Media coverage was more balanced, voter turnout was higher than before--in general, the election had all the hallmarks of moving Mexico toward a truly democratic system. All this is presented in great detail in this book, edited by Dominguez (Harvard Univ.) and Lawson (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), with contributions from eight other well-respected Mexicanologists. However, Mexico is still a nation of haves and have-nots. The current president is a member of a party more conservative than the PRI. No party has a majority in the Mexican Congress and, most important, President Fox has been unable, or unwilling, to bring about real change in Mexican society. The nation still has some distance to travel before it becomes a functioning--rather than merely formal--democracy. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. E. A. Duff emeritus, Randolph-Macon Woman's College