caa a22 4500 386321558 CHVBK 20180307111628.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e19880701xx s 000 0 eng 10.1111/j.1477-7053.1988.tb00087.x doi S0017257X00006412 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1111/j.1477-7053.1988.tb00087.x Cammack Paul The ‘Brazilianization' of Mexico? [Elektronische Daten] [Paul Cammack] IN THE EARY 1970s, AT THE HEIGHT OF BRAZIL'S ‘ECONOMIC miracle', the possibility was mooted by some within the regime of an evolution towards a stable authoritarian system based upon a permanent ruling party capable of governing by consent. The most immediate model in the Latin American context was the ruling Mexican Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Institutionalized Revolutionary Party); hence the term ‘Mexicanization' to express this concept. However, objective assessments of the prospects were somewhat sceptical. In 1974 President Geisel launched a process of ‘liberalization', hoping to gain enough popular support through the ruling party, ARENA, to allow a measured relaxation of the repressive controls established after 1964. The process of change thus inaugurated led in little over a decade to the collapse of the regime, and the installation of a civilian, José Sarney, as president in March 1985. As I shall argue below, every move the regime made in its attempt to build a majority party backfired, and, ironically, it was the opposition MDB, whose development was blocked and harassed at every turn, which came nearest to emulating the PRI as a genuinely popular party with cross-class support, a broad national base, and a fund of legitimacy, deriving from its opposition role. Government and Opposition Cambridge University Press 23/3(1988-07-01), 304-320 0017-257X 23:3<304 1988 23 GOV https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-7053.1988.tb00087.x text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-7053.1988.tb00087.x text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Cammack Paul NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Government and Opposition Cambridge University Press 23/3(1988-07-01), 304-320 0017-257X 23:3<304 1988 23 GOV CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge