Linking state and society in discourse and action: Political and cultural studies of the Cárdenas era in Mexico

Abstract

On 6 July 1997, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, founder and leader of the Mexican Partido de la Revolucion Democraitica (PRD), scored an impressive victory in being elected mayor of Mexico City. Cardenas's new status as leader of the world's largest city, along with the PRD's substantial gains in parliamentary elections, has raised important questions about the sources of their combined political strength. To what is owed the victory of Cuauhtemoc Cardenas and his party? At least three answers suggest themselves: the particular political talents, programs, and bases of support developed by Cuauhtemoc Cardenas; the identification of his father, former President Lazaro Cardenas (1934-1940), with the zenith of a popular revolutionary project; and the exhaustion of the corporatist political model that, perhaps ironically and unwittingly, Lazaro Cardenas bequeathed to the Mexican state. All these elements contributed in some measure to the recent victory, but it is not our intention to sort them out here. Instead, we would like to explore the evidence that the popular legacy of the Lazaro Cardenas era has provided significant support for his son and the PRD.