Federico Reyes Heroles
With a tight hug to Carlos Loret.
I was very saddened by the article. El Universal published the results of an investigation by the Pew Research Center. This is one of the most reputable institutions that has made a breakthrough in many issues of political culture. It is non-partisan and lives on contributions from philanthropic funds. The headline said it all: “One in 2 Mexicans supports autocracy.” Political culture research flourished with Huntington’s “waves” of democratization. Democracy seemed, in the initial version, an almost obligatory future. Openness to globalization and markets supported democratization processes. The matter was not so simple; China came to unseat the paradigm. It was possible to be a country open to markets and maintain authoritarian rules. Huntington published another text of brilliant essays -Culture Matters- in which he rectified.
The lesson was painful but obvious. Democratic culture is cultivated in schools, by the government, and by civil society. It must take deep roots in individuals, in the conceptions of human coexistence. This is the only way to avoid regression.
A few months ago, talking to Rob Riemen about his new release, he spoke to me with anger and despair about the new Dutch right wing. For Rob, these are new forms of fascism. All the lessons of traditional humanism, all the experiences acquired by humanity after the Second World War, can come crashing down. Jacobo Dayán published a splendid book, Weimar Republic. The Death of a Democracy Seen from the Perspective of Art and Thought (Taurus).
Pew recalls the effort made by the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas and the IFE-INE to learn about the evolution of Mexicans’ political and legal culture. Why respect the law out of fear of punishment or conviction of the common benefit it brings? The difference is everything. Behind was the work of Lawrence Kohlberg, a pioneer in this.
Mexico was moving forward. The attitude towards minorities, the very interpretation of the role of the law. Plurality as a gateway and guarantee of freedom. What was the function of proportional representation? A discussion that takes us back to the 1970s. The division of powers as a guarantee of democratic management and, of course, elections in an atmosphere of freedom and scrupulously organized by citizens. All countries have minor modalities; for example, when I attended the plebiscite in Chile, I was amazed that men and women did not vote in the same voting center. The diversity of voting mechanisms in the United States can sometimes seem chaotic. Polling place officials are paid, and no one doubts them. In Cuba, the mechanics of the elections are perfect; the results appear in a few hours. The only minor problem is that the voting is done in front of a representative of the CDRs: zero secrecy, one of the great inventions of the West. But Mexico, stumbling, was evolving.
Now, more and more Mexicans think that an autocracy, a government without interference from the Legislative or the Judiciary, is “a good form of government”. Approval for the “iron fist”, authoritarianism, never disappears, no matter how developed a nation is. Research in 24 countries shows that Mexico went from support for autocracy of 27% in 2017 to 50% in 2023. Condemnation decreased from 67% to 48% in just six years.
There is no surprise if we have been five years of systematic bombardment to the liberal values that underlie any democracy. Five years of threats to journalists, of boasting about lies. For some, culture is something evanescent, but in the long run, it is a rock. In addition to poverty, inefficiency, squandering, and closed-mindedness now appear to be the dire consequences of cultivating autocratic ideas. It is no coincidence. Another six years of this?
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