Corruption in Mexico

Corruption in Mexico has permeated several segments of society – political, economic, and social – and has greatly affected the country’s legitimacy, transparency, accountability, and effectiveness. Many of these dimensions have evolved as a product of Mexico’s legacy of elite, oligarchic consolidation of power and authoritarian rule. In the 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index – a measure between 0 (highly corrupt) and 100 (very clean) of the perceived levels of public sector corruption in 175 countries and territories – Mexico scored a 35, and was ranked as one of the top 75 most corrupt countries in the world.

Although the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) came to power through cooptation and peace, it maintained power for 71 years straight (1929 to 2000) by establishing patronage networks and relying on personalistic measures. That is, Mexico functioned as a one-party state and was characterized by a system in which politicians provided bribes to their constituents in exchange for support and votes for reelection. This type of clientelism constructed a platform through which political corruption had the opportunity to flourish: little political competition and organization outside of the party existed; it was not possible to independently contest the PRI system. Political contestation equated to political, economic, and social isolation and neglect. The party remained securely in power, and government accountability was low.

Hierarchization was the norm. Power was consolidated in the hands of an elite few, and even more narrowly, the president controlled almost all of the practical power across the three branches of government. This central figure had both the formal and informal power to exercise extralegal authority over the judiciary and legislature and to relegate these other branches to the executive’s individual political will. Beyond this, few checks were set on elected officials’ actions throughout the PRI's unbroken reign. Consequently, sustained PRI rule yielded low levels of transparency and legitimacy within the councils of Mexico’s government. 71 years of power provided an opportunity for corruption to accumulate and become increasingly complex. Civil society developed around economic interest aggregation that was organized by the clientelistic government; the PRI allowed citizens to collectively bargain under the condition that they would continue to provide political loyalty to the party. Anthony Kruszewski, Tony Payan, and Katheen Staudt explain,

"Running through the formal structure of…political institutions was a well-articulated and complex set of…networks…[that] deliberately manipulate[d] governmental resources…to advance their political aspirations and to protect their private interests and those of their clienteles and partners… Under the political geometry of an authoritarian and centralized scheme [corruption]…grew and prospered."

...
Wikipedia