Origin and evolution of presidentialism in Mexico. Informal institutions, political conflict and concentration of power (1824-1917)

Abstract

Mexico adopted republicanism and federalism during the first half of the nineteenth century, in combination with presidentialism. This article analyses the origin and evolution of Mexican presidentialism from the Federal Constitution in 1824, to the sanction of the Constitution of 1917. During this period, the country went through more or less centralized institutional experiments, in constant tension with its federal and republican original institutions. The article concludes that political instability was the main feature of the period under analysis, favored by the combination of informal presidential supremacy and territorial conflicts between regional élites and federal government, regardless the formal institutions regulating distribution of power.