Introduction

Abstract

This book explains some of the ways in which deteriorating socioeconomic conditions (inequality in particular) and institutional limitations (corruption, electoral exclusion,¹ and a weak rule of law, among others) affect politi¬cal stability in extremely unequal developing countries, such as Mexico, where democracy is not yet fully consolidated. The present analysis centers on those noninstitutional practices of the political system—or “uncivil” modes of political action—that visibly challenge the coherence and cohesion of authority patterns and limit democratic progress and governability. Such practices include violent political action, massive antigovernment mobilizations, and other major manifestations of popular dissent. These practices are all considered to be “active political factionalism,”² and will be referred to here as APF, or, more simply, as “political factionalism.”