Critical Junctures or Slow-Moving Processes? The Effects of Political and Economic Transformations on the Mexican Public Sector.

Guillermo Cejudo

doi:10.5354/0717-8980.2007.14145

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Critical Junctures or Slow-Moving Processes? The Effects of Political and Economic Transformations on the Mexican Public Sector.

Authors

Guillermo Cejudo Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE),

Vol. 5 No. 10 (2007)

https://doi.org/10.5354/0717-8980.2007.14145

Abstract

This paper argues against prevailing explanations of public management change in Mexico that rely on analysis of “momentous” decisions and short term explanations of reform. In contrast, there is an explicit attempt to explain changes in the public sector by long-term developments in the political economy. Specifically, I will show how different processes of change have taken place in the Mexican public sector as a gradual adaptation to the processes of economic liberalization and democratization, punctuatted by specific reform efforts. The main hypothesis is that changes in the size and economic scope of the public sector are explained by changes in the government’s economic strategy, whereas the changes in structure and public management policy choices are better explained by the process of political democratization. The overall objetive of this research is to improve our understanding of the dynamics of institutional change in government structures, by emphasizing the distinction between deliberate reform and incremental change, and by linking both processes to broader developments in the political and economic spheres.

Keywords:

new institutionalism, administrative refor, democratization, liberalization, institutional change, México

Author Biography

Guillermo Cejudo, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE),

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How to Cite

Cejudo, G. (2007). Critical Junctures or Slow-Moving Processes? The Effects of Political and Economic Transformations on the Mexican Public Sector. Estado, Gobierno Y Gestión Pública, 5(10), pp. 5 / 26. https://doi.org/10.5354/0717-8980.2007.14145