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There have been numerous studies of the debt crisis from global, Latin American and even Mexican perspectives. However, very few studies have so far addressed the political dimension of the crisis and examined the effects of the crisis on political stability and democratic practice in Mexico. This research focuses on the political dimension of the crisis, in order to make good this important omission in the existing literature. This thesis explores in particular two closely related questions about the practice of politics in Mexico. First, it explores the role which political debates and political pressures have played in shaping the response of the Mexican state to one of the gravest crises faced by the country. Second, it illuminates the common political practice of the Mexican state. This work analyses the political forces involved in the domestic debate surrounding the negotiations between the Mexican state and the IMF during this crisis. It interprets the various economic and political pressures that different Mexican social groups exercised upon the Mexican state. The social actors taken into account in this study are people involved in the political arena such as politicians, bureaucrats and senior members of the state; institutions with socio-economic interests inside civil society such as workers' unions, chambers of private organizations, banks, peasants' organizations, the church, the press and civil associations. The thesis demonstrates how public opinion generated a new political debate through the media. This political debate inside Mexican society was substantially extended and intensified, stimulating the formation of new political alternatives. The awakening of a political consciousness contributed to the generation of an important debate which shaped the contest of the presidential political campaign in 1988. A new political coalition, the FDN, emerged, presenting a serious alternative presidential candidate. In the end, the governing PRI won the presidential elections; nevertheless, many Mexicans gave their support to both the left-wing FDN and the right-wing PAN, instead of to the PRI. Thus, the economic debt crisis culminated in a political electoral crisis during the 1988 presidential elections. To sum up, the thesis proves that the debt crisis as an issue opened up the political debate and led to a political crisis. The earlier process of political reform initiated in Mexico in 1977 opened the space for alternative political parties and views. The debt crisis was taken up as an issue by these alternative groups which encouraged the debate. The debt crisis itself thus reinforced the process of political transformation.

Since 2006, Mexico has been embroiled in a process of intensification and proliferation of violence. The Mexican government has framed this phenomenon discursively as a war on drugs and has responded by launching a military strategy. The account has proved to be insufficient in explaining the complexity of the current phenomenon of violence; as a consequence, the military strategy has been a terrible failure. Despite the state having lost its monopoly on coercive power a long time ago, the government and political analysts insist that the only possibility for reducing the intensity of violence is to strengthen the punitive system. In contrast, the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity and other social activists have proposed love and responsiveness as an alternative to reducing such ruthless violence. Political analysts have mocked this alternative approach in the mass media. To them it seems inappropriate to invest love with a political logic, and the idea of using practices of generosity to reduce violence appears misguided. This is a thesis in political philosophy that aims to make intelligible the political value of practices of generosity to reduce violence. To this end, I critically analyse the predominant conception of the 'political' which, because it is informed by the logic of ressentiment, suggests that any strategy to reduce violence must draw on more violence and coercion. Likewise, I take into account the UNDP Reports Democracy in Latin America which, drawing on a substantive conception of democracy, assert that violence flows from a democratic deficit. Therefore, the strategy to reduce violence consists of deepening democracy rather than of getting tough. Thus, I critically engage radical political theories to articulate an interpretation that shows the political pertinence of generosity and empathy, rather than ressentiment, for articulating collective actions that aim to produce well-being for all.

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The central aim of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of electoral and democratic discursive practices during the installation and reproduction of the neo-liberal regime in Mexico. Specifically, the thesis aims to clarify our comprehension of the ideological and political significance of Mexico's electoral and democratic dynamics over a twenty year period from the late 1980s to the mid 2000s. The thesis' main contention is that these discursive dynamics have a paradoxical role. On the one hand, they serve to alleviate particular political and social tensions. On the other, they preserve and legitimise an exclusionary politico- economic hegemony. The majority of scholars see this period as a crucial period of democratic transition and consolidation. Other scholars have made some important advances in our understanding by offering a nuanced and complex picture of this period in terms of the concrete economic struggles taking place in Mexico. Yet such efforts miss the exclusionary and legitimating effects of these practices, thereby weakening the explanatory dimension of these interventions. Drawing on the articulation of the Political Discourse Theory and Lacanian psychoanalysis I deploy a "logics" approach to explain these effects. This theory offers an important theoretical framework comprising three basic units of explanation: social, political, and fantasmatic logic. Contrary to the dominant thrust of the literature, I suggest: (1) that the most prominent economic and political changes during this period underpinned a shift to a neo-liberal economic regime, not primarily or only a transformation to a democratic polis; (2) that calls for electoral and democratic reform became crucial elements in wider, powerful political logics that helped institute, defend, and consolidate neo-liberal social norms; and (3) that the affective energy invested in the electoral and democratic dynamics legitimised and justified an exclusionary regime of practices. The thesis is structured around a qualitative methodological approach to a handful of key events in the recent political history of Mexico: the 1988 elections, the 1994-1996 period of political and economic turmoil and the 2000 and 2006 electoral process. I argue that viewing this crucial twenty- year period as a function of logics not only assists in the task of offering a more satisfying characterisation of Mexico's recent electoral and democratic practices, it also makes more visible, and helps us better assess, its ideological, political and economic import.

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This thesis is a theoretical exercise which relies on the Strategic Relational Approach to analyze the broad social processes of change and to deliver a critical account of the contingent contemporary transformations in Mexico. By engaging in an exercise of process-tracing, this thesis aims to examine critically key features of social change, challenging economic deterministic accounts, and ignoring social and political circumstances. Its focus is on the application of theories of change to illuminate broad trajectories of reform. By presenting a theoretically informed empirical narrative of contemporary transformations in Mexico, it is possible to enhance the insight into the particular processes of commodification, democratization and integration. Moreover, the varied and combined paces, depths and strengths of these transformations provide an excellent opportunity to understand and assess the importance of tendencies and countertendencies in play. By referring to the analytical tools of structure and agency, material and ideational elements, all within specific locations of time and space the contingency of processes of change is recognized. The restoration of agency is a crucial element for an analysis of the socially embedded processes of commodification, democratization and integration. By relying on the accounts of political economists and economic sociologists, it can be shown that the processes are deeply political and non-determinate. Therefore, alongside constraints, they also offer windows of opportunity which encompass a broader social and political spectrum and possibilities of transformation. Since different modes of governance are not necessarily incompatible with each other, the account offered here focuses on the state, the market and networking, as well as their complementary roles, which are not reducible to determinisms or inevitability of any sort.