Session Abstract

The panel brings together 3 papers, based on original research, that examine cross-class reactions to a democratic opening during the 1970s in Mexico.  The papers explore the extent of the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s (PRI) ability and inability to blend opportunity and coercion (including violence) during the 1970s, specifically under Luis Echeverria’s presidency, in an attempt to retain political legitimacy.  By analyzing the political relationships between the state and different social strata (middle classes, peasant revolutionaries, and indigenous leaders), in both rural and urban contexts, we shed light on the complexities and contradictions of the Pax PRIista, but also the successes of social sectors to negotiate political, social, and economic spaces for maneuvering.