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From Machine Politics to the Politics of Technocracy: Charting Changes in Governance in the Mexican Municipality 1
Author(s) -
WARD PETER M.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
bulletin of latin american research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1470-9856
pISSN - 0261-3050
DOI - 10.1111/j.1470-9856.1998.tb00129.x
Subject(s) - technocracy , politics , corporate governance , government (linguistics) , rationality , autonomy , typology , public administration , political economy , political science , agency (philosophy) , local government , economic system , sociology , economics , law , social science , linguistics , philosophy , finance , anthropology
— A typology comprising technocratic rationality versus political partisanship helps to identify several local government structures found in contemporary Mexico: political machines; autonomous‐indigenous; technocratic; and modernising party governments. Case study research in over a dozen municipalities for three principal parties suggest a trend towards increasing technocratic and more administratively efficient municipal government and changing patterns of partisanship. This arises from new pressures associated with electoral opening, political alternation, new government actors, growing urban development complexity, and from federal reforms offering greater local government autonomy. However, while improved administration and technocratic governance often leads to positive outcomes, they do not necessarily imply ‘good government’.