Cosponsored by World Affairs Council of Central Illinois (WACCI), Department of Sociology Anthropology, and Department of Women and Gender Studies

The audience will be introduced to the political history and culture of Mexico through the 2018 landslide election of Manuel Andres López Obrador (AMLO) of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA). An advocate of the working class, the new president is also a critic of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that has dominated national politics. This presentation will explore the history of Mexico’s political leadership, placing emphasis on the political, social, and economic factors that contributed to AMLO’s election, including the role of clientelism (a system of political patronage) and corruption and efforts of the current government to eradicate it. Many Mexicans feel that the election of AMLO is a “new Mexican Revolution.” “Working together,” AMLO said, “We are going to make history.” How have AMLO and the Mexican citizenry faced the challenges of Mexican democracy and political participation so far?

Cristina Tapia Muro is a Tenure-Track Professor of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Colima, Mexico. She has a Ph.D. in Economics and Administrative Sciences with Public Policy Orientation from the University of Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico. She has also a post-doctoral specialization on Public Policy and Gender Justice from the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the Latin American College of Social Sciences ( FLACSO), Brazil. Dr. Tapia has written numerous peer-reviewed articles on clientelism in Mexico in such venues as Estudios Sociologicos, and the Asian Journal of Latin American Studies, among many others.