Political participation in Mexico (1988-2009) : How and why has it changed ?

Abstract
The purpose of this essay is to offer a brief exploratory analysis of the causes and consequences of the changes in the patterns of political participation in México over the last 20 years (1988-2009). It focuses along two lines : voting on one hand, and the orientation given by the political parties to political participation on a basic left- right political spectrum. The argument is that over the last 20 years Mexico has experienced more dynamic electoral participation and a division of the voting preferences among three political parties (PRI, PAN and PRD). This change occurred in the sense of a citizen’s more risky attitude toward other parties from right to left, different from the traditional PRI preferences. Many factors could explain this shift : a new socio-economic configuration of the country, higher education, urbanization, or new electoral institutions. The task then is to analyse how this has occurred in Mexico.