Download A critical view at the historical institutional development of academic

A critical view at the historical institutional development of academic political science
in Mexico
Enrique Gutiérrez Márquez
Universidad Iberoamericana
Karla Valverde Viesca
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Abstract
Today, Academic Political Science in México observes an unprecedented boom and
political scientists play a role that in the past belonged to other academic and institutional
sectors. Nowadays, political science professionals hold a capacity of influence in social and
political decision-making process, and they are many who have created private
consultancies, are involved in media and social organizations or have joined into the
Legislative, Judicial and Executive powers at federal and local levels.
More than sixty years have passed since the establishment of Political Science in Mexico,
so it is necessary to develop a critical reflection on its institutional development in order to
identify new horizons and promote new research agendas. In this sense, it seems relevant to
ask some questions about its history: what are the currents or theoretical approaches used in
Mexican Political Science to explain the social and political phenomena? What is the
responsibility of academics and social scientists to explain problems and to propose
solutions to them? What the academic community of political scientists need, to be present
in national and international debates? What is needed to create links between researchers?
How to disseminate research in political science and encourage the solution of certain
national problems? These questions and more are open. Research agenda is large and
probably we will be discussing these issues over the next few decades.
In Mexico, the construction of new social, economic, political, cultural and educative
structures, suitable to the new requirements and social interactions imposed by the
transition between the XIX and XX century; presented some challenges to the intellectuals
of that time, one of them is the need to explain the events that happened during the
revolutionary period and at the same time to think about the cementation of a new national
project. Within this context, the work assumed by these intellectuals helped to consolidate
academic and disciplinary institutional spaces related to the Social Sciences, from that
moment on, they were used to inquire, identify and to solve the main national problems.
During this process, two events happened simultaneously that contributed to the emergence
of the Mexican Political Science ad a new discipline from the Social Sciences. The first one
is that the Mexican State, republican itself, assumed the role of referee of the economic,
political and social activities thus defining a direct action in the organization and execution
of the new national project. The State had an interest to work with specialized professionals
that could contribute to give meaning to its actions and the decision-making process at the
different governmental areas (Arguedas, 1979; Labastida y Valenti, 1991). The second one
is the presence of a different academic way of thinking, which also had infrastructure and
personality by its own, this constituted a fundamental and necessary event for some
knowledge spheres, mainly those similar to the Social Sciences that contributed to build a
national project based on the 1917 Constitution.
Similarly to other places in the world, at Mexico the State was the one that promoted the
Human and Social Sciences as a formative space for specialists that could think and give
answer to the problems and situations of that age (Paoli, 1990). It is then that the first
essays and journalists articles appeared written by the intellectual community; they were
still impregnated with positivism, evolutionism and nationalism. Those intellectuals1 were
the ones that during the first two decades of the 20th century, based on the academic and
professional practice, pushed for the creation of specialized educational institutions, among
them stands out the Universidad Nacional de México, founded in September 22th of 1910.
Afterwards, between 1930 and 1950 it is possible to identify that this same community
consolidates as the creator and director of the cultural institutions in the post-revolutionary
Mexico. The Universidad Nacional de México obtained its autonomy in 1929 and
converted in the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. It was the first institution
where the first steps to understand the national reality were taken.
The objective of this work is to describe the beginning and evolution of the Political
Science as an institutionalized discipline. For that purpose, four stages of study are
proposed:
1. Background for the institutionalization of the Political Science in Mexico, 1930 –
1950.
2. Beginning of the Academic Political Science in Mexico, 1951 – 1970.
3. The investigation of Political Science and the extension of the educative offer, 1971
– 1990.
4. The expansion and consolidation of the discipline: new interpretations of the
political phenomena, 1991 – present.
It is interesting to analyze the four stages proposed simultaneously to the evolution of the
Mexican State since 1920 (Table 1). Some elements of the context that favored the
institutionalization of the State also helped to build the Mexican Political Science, first as a
discipline and then as an Academic Political Science with its own movement.
1
In his text Desarrollo y organización de las ciencias sociales en México, Francisco Paoli Bolio, talks about the
process of creation of the Social Sciences in Mexico. In particular, he documents an intellectual debate
between Antonio Caso and Vicente Lombardo Toledano which shows the situation at those years and also
the relevance that economy, psychology, political science and sociology teaching had at that time for those
considered philosophers, lawyers and men of science.
Table 1. Link between the evolution of the Political Science and the development of
the Mexican State (1920 – 1990).
Period
Characteristics of the
Mexican State
1920-1940
Structure
The beginning of the creation
of institutional infrastructure.
The State assumed the role of
social referee; intervention in
the direct offering of services.
A direct action of the State
apparatus can be observed in
the organization and execution
of the development national
project.
1941-1969
Direct action
1970-1982
Direction and
orientation of the
development
1983-1988
Direct
intervention and
corresponsibility
1989-Present
Restructuration
The public investment is
channeled towards the social
and economic development.
The State capacity to direct
and orient the economic
development consolidates.
The State participates in the
production and distribution of
goods and services through
public enterprises.
Planning is incorporated as a
State intervention mechanism
as an answer to the huge
increase of public enterprises.
The State intervention is
redefined and its direct
participation in the economic
process is weakened.
The
process
of
disincorporation of public
enterprises is initiated. The
reform of the State is the main
course to follow. Transition
between an interventionist
State and one solidary.
New mixed systems of social
welfare are created, based in a
Stage
19301950
Political Science
evolution and its
institutionalization
Background for the
institutionalization of the
Mexican Political
Science.
19511970
Beginning of the
Academic Political
Science in Mexico.
Research in the Political
Science and the
extension of the
education offer.
19711990
1991 –
Present
Expansion and
consolidation of the
new relations between the
State and Society.
discipline: new
interpretations of the
political phenomena.
Source: Prepared by the authors based on Valverde (2008) and Gutiérrez (2011) data.
PROCESS OF INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF THE POLITICAL SCIENCE IN
MEXICO
Within the process of institutionalization of the Political Science in Mexico it is possible to
identify different components that define each stage of the four proposed to its study.
Among them, 13 are highlighted: 1) Influence of the positivist thought to promote studies
in the Social Sciences area; 2) the need to have intellectuals and professionals of new
disciplines; 3) the creation of a school to prepare Political Science professionals; 4) The
foundation of the Centro de Estudios Políticos (CEP) as a place for research and academic
work; 5) The creation of Political Science graduates that will prepare future politologists; 6)
Design, creation and consolidation of own lines of research; 7) Expansion of the discipline
and increase in the national programs; 8) Increase of the students enrollment; 9) Academic
quality, evaluation of programs and accreditations; 10) Professional impact of the
graduates; 11) Formation of national PhD’s and researchers; 12) Actual weight of the
discipline in the Social Sciences; and 13) Creation of researchers and professionals
associations.
First Period: Background for the Institutionalization of the Political Science in Mexico,
1930 – 1950.
By the end of the XIX century an increase in the study of the political phenomena can be
observed and a movement towards the official recognition of the discipline and its
acceptance in the academic institutions of that age can be identified (Farr, 1999; Flores,
2004; Harto de Vera, 2005). Thus, the development of the Political Science promoted the
idea to prepare administrators and professionals more capable. This helped in the
foundation of faculties and schools of Political Science and Administration.
The different topics analyzed by this discipline were disseminated by the specialized
journals. In 1886 happened the publication of the two first journals, the American Political
Science Quarterly and the french journal, Annales de l’ École Libre de Sciences Politiques.
Additionally to this process of foundation and expansion of the Political Science it is
important to mention that in 1903 the American Political Science Association was
constituted.
From this time on, it is possible to distinguish the Political Science as an area of knowledge
and an Academic Political Science2 as a space of disciplinary reflection that includes
political scientists, universities and research centers; periodic publications; and an increase
number of participants that as a whole show the conformation of a real epistemic
community (Gutiérrez, 2009 and 2011).
During the period that includes the two World Wars, an increasing State intervention in
politics is present, and also its relations with society tighten. 1948 is a milestone for the
Political Science because by expressed request of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the most recognized experts of the
political and social phenomena reunite in Paris with the purpose to redefine and determine
with clarity its objects of study. The deliberations concluded, at least partially, with a list
elaborated under the heavy influence of the Anglo-Saxon thought. This list included the
topics and lines of reflection that would allow the Political Science to build a specific
object of investigation of its own, different to the ones of other disciplines like Law,
Philosophy, Economy and even Sociology (UNESCO, 1950).
Nevertheless the list included an enumeration of topics, it does not specifies a categorical or
conceptual definition nor a unique concept, essential or distinctive of what political. It is
still a reference for the elaboration of theoretical frames, the construction of university
programs and a guide for the reflection of the discipline. The topics proposed were included
in what popularly is known as a “UNESCO type list”, as it is showed in the next table:
Table 2. Reference list from UNESCO for the research of the Political Science
General line of investigation
I. Political theory
Specific line of development
a) Political theory
b) History of the political ideas
II. Political institutions
a) Constitution
b) Central government
c) Regional and local government
d) Public administration
e) Economic and social functions of the government
f) Compared political institutions
III. Parties, groups and public a) Political party
opinion
b) Groups and associations
c) Citizen participation at the government and
administration.
d) Public Opinion
2
The Academic Political Science is a conceptual proposal that explains, at least some extent, the
sophistication and specialization of the activity. The professor Enrique Suárez-Iñiguez is the only one that
works this concept for the Political Science in Mexico. To study this topic the followings texts can be
consulted: “La Ciencia Política académica mexicana” in, Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales,
México, XXXVII (147), pp. 213-220, 1992. “La Ciencia política en México“, en Ciencia Política, Democracia y
Elecciones, México, FCPyS-UNAM, pp. 69-92, 1989. “The role of political theory in the teaching of political
science in México”, 1989. “Political Science in Mexico in the Cold war and Post-cold War Context”, 1994.
IV. International Relations
a) International Politics
b) International organization and administration
Source: Prepared by the authors based on UNESCO (1950) data.
Towards the middle of 20th century, at least five schools with their own disciplinary
development influenced the origins and destiny of the political and social knowledge and
also the origin of the Political Science in Mexico: the Escuela Nacional de Jurisprudencia;
the Escuela de Altos Estudios; the Escuela de Economía; the sociological perspective; and,
the Spanish school represented by the exiled teachers and intellectuals.
Second Period: Beginning of Academic Political Science in Mexico, 1951 – 1970
It is difficult to identify the beginning of the Academic Political Science in Latin America,
nonetheless, after the Second World War it is possible to consider some events that suggest
its development (Barrientos, 2013).
In Latin America, each country adopted the discipline following internal dynamics of their
own university and academics. Thus, an uneven development followed but also caused
diverse discussions about the object of investigation of the Political Science; the definition
of politics and politic and even the nature of the disciplinary studies in which the debate
was between using a name in singular as Political Science or in plural as Political Sciences,
mainly because its unified nature or the influence of other disciplines to it. At the end, both
denominations were adopted indistinctively to understand the discipline that studies the
public administration and the international relations.
it can be observed a common line and constant in their process of institutional constitution
which is the preponderant presence of other disciplinary spheres like Law and Sociology,
those marked the origin of the Academic Political Science in the nations and also promoted
their slow process of autonomy, growth and consolidation.
Birth of the Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales (ENCPYS)
As new economic, social, political and cultural processes appeared, the Academic Political
Science in Mexico constituted a regulated and normed space with an epistemic community
eager to think about the political issues but also ready to fight for the predominance of the
mechanisms used to explain the political and social realities of the country. In other words,
this area allowed the reunion and formation of a scientific tribe (Latour and Woolgar,
1995), specialists and specialized, that would talk the same language and would work as
speakers of the different projects that supported the development of the country, even in
other spheres of the social life.
The Political Science is introduced mainly through two external ways in Mexico. First, by
the consolidation of a trend of Americans academics known as “mexicanista”, dedicated to
study the national issues and which publications had a great influence in the academy and
in politics in Mexico. The work of Friedrich Katz is an example of this. Second, by the end
of the Second World War it can be observed an influence of the United Nations
Organization (UNO) through UNESCO, aimed to guide the construction of institutional
spaces that would think about the global political problems, to reorder the world aiming to
assure peace and to avoid a new conflict. These external processes would add to the internal
dynamic and to the mission of Dr. Mendieta y Núñez, director of the Instituto de
Investigaciones Sociales, of supporting the creation of Social Sciences schools.
During the period of Luis Garrido, Lucio Mendieta y Núñez present the proposal to
establish the ENCPyS. Even when its creation was approved by the H. Consejo
Universitario of the UNAM on May 3th of 1951, the school would open its doors on july
9th of that same year in some installations outside university campus. Its first director was a
lawyer, Dr. Ernesto Enríquez Coyro, who rejected the UNESCO idea to form theorists
without art or practice, they would be named, invented by Daniel Cosío Villegas,
politologists.
In 1957, the Mexican president Adolfo López Mateos inaugurated in Ciudad Universitaria
the buildings of the Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales 3. Originally, the
school offered four academic programs of undergraduate courses: Political Sciences, Social
Sciences, Diplomatic Sciences and Journalism. At that moment the inclusion of the public
administration was discarded because that would invade the space of reflection of the
Escuela de Economía, founded in 1929. The first programs were mainly inspired by the
French and Belgian models, in particular the one from the École de Sciences Politiques of
the Lovaina University in Belgium (Torres, 1990; Sirvent, 2004).
The creation of the first academic program of an undergraduate course of Social and
Political Sciences show some similarities with the experience of the Economy courses
because it was also an answer to the necessities of the country. In this case, the impulse
came from the changes of the postwar in the world and the determination of the elite at
power to incorporate Mexico in the new international reality.
The apparition of the ENCPyS was inscribed among the Latin-American and global
tendency of the 1950’s decade, which contributed to consolidate the schools dedicated to
study the Social Sciences (Peschard, 1986). Its objective was to create the new social
scientists through solid preparation that would also allow them to being dedicated full time
to the study of the social reality. The consolidation of the school had important effects for
the whole Universidad Nacional and for the country (Paoli, 1990). The first organ of formal
communication for the discipline was originated with the Revista Mexicana de Ciencias
Políticas in 1955.
3
It is important to mention that in 1945, the Congress passed the Project of law to create Ciudad
Universitaria. Those installations were formally opened in 1954. During the 1953 – 1957 period, the director
of the ENCPyS at UNAM was Dr. Raúl Carrancá y Trujillo. From 1857 to 1961 was Dr. Pablo González
Casanova who was reelected for a second period.
First, this organ was consolidated as an autonomous space with own research objects, also
it had methodological tools differentiated from those used by Law and Philosophy
(Colmenero, 1991). Second, it forced a rearrangement inside the UNAM and outside of it
with the purpose to form an institutionalized body of academics working on the
development of these disciplines. Third, it showed the necessity to educate specialized
people emphasizing on the professional characteristics of the new disciplines. Finally, it
gave a new vision to the interpretation of the social and political phenomena from
perspectives never seen before.
Certainly, during more than a decade, the UNAM was the only educational institution that
formed professionals in this discipline. Afterwards, in 1964, the Universidad
Iberoamericana (UIA) was the first private educational institution, that created
undergraduate courses on Political Science at its new campus located south in Mexico City.
That same year, the undergraduate course on Political Science began at the Universidad
Autónoma de Baja California (UABC) at Mexicali, capital of that state, north of the
country.
By the end of the 1950’s decade and the beginning of 1970 the sociology of the Latin
American development is fortified also the structural functionalist focus, with its premises
of objectivity, neutrality, clean ideology, statistical empiricism and methodological
emphasis (Castañeda, 2004). Also, internal factors inside the country like the contraction of
the economic growth, the political and social crises of 1958 and 1959 (Colmenero, 1991),
and external factors like the Cuban Revolution, lead to the questioning of the developing
theories.
To confront these new challenges, since 1957 directed by Pablo González Casanova 4, a
fundamental actor in the development of the Political Science in Mexico, not only because
of his academic administrative work but also because its intellectual contributions that
meant a renovation in the way the politics and policies were studied inside the school. For
the undergraduate courses in particular, he proposed to modify the program originally
oriented to the legal thought towards sociological and philosophical foci.
By 1958 the Political Science approached to the public administration instead of promoting
its autonomy and independent development, until it was tied to the same degree (Peschard,
1986). Thus the incorporation of the public administration in the program of the ENCPyS, a
new undergraduate course was offered under the name of Political Sciences and Public
Administration. From this moment on, there were two options to study: one related to the
research work and other related to the professional exercise in the governmental area. The
4
In 1957 he was designated as Director of the Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales. In 1959 he
was also president of the directive committee of the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales in
Santiago, Chile. On the next decade, he was director of the Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales of UNAM
(1966). In 1968 he was president of the Latin American Sociology Association. In 1970 was elected dean of
the UNAM. He is author of the now classic text, La democracia en México, published in 1965. During the
1968 – 2000 period, he founded the Centro de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Ciencias y Humanidades
at UNAM.
French idea that distinguished between the Political Science and the Political Sociology
prevailed, this idea consider the first one as the integral study of the State (Paoli, 1990) and
the second one as the study of power in relation with society.
Process of Specialization and Professionalization of the Discipline
At the same time this process was happening in the Universidad Nacional, since 1960 a
new group of political scientists was created inside the Centro de Estudios Internacionales
of the El Colegio de México. This group was influenced by the advances of the American
Political Science and was exposed to other disciplines like History, Economy and
International Relations. Also they received an influence through those who continued their
formation at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) at Chile, where
the CEPAL oriented economy was above the sociology. This resulted in an attitude of
criticism between those two disciplines that gave birth to the Dependence Theory. This
Sociology would influence the Political Science in Mexico.
For many years, the academic activities in the Superior Educational Institutes concentrated
mainly in the academic activities which responsibilities rested on the professionals that
dedicated only a few hours to teach some course at the university. Although, as the need to
form highly qualified resources, the UNAM created in 1968, the Division de Estudios de
Posgrado which offered the first Master and PhD programs in Political Science. This action
lead to the transformation of the Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales to the
Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales (FCPyS) which contributed to the creation of an
academic community that fortified the specialization process and the professionalization of
the discipline in benefit of the university and of the country.
Another relevant issue that helped to the institutionalization of the science in general and to
the Political Science in particular was the creation of the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y
Tecnología (CONACYT) in December of 1970. This organism had as its objective to
support the formation of scientific resources through scholarships that it would offer to
study postgraduate courses abroad. With this, it also favored the creation of national
postgraduate courses which were nurtured by the graduates formed in France, England and
the United States. Also, it contributed to promote the consolidation of the Political Science
as an area of knowledge.
In 1968, after the student conflict, the Mexican State needed to recover its credibility, to
open new spaces and to restructure its relation with the civil society. To achieve this, it was
needed to question and criticize the institutional bases of the post-revolutionary social pact,
the unfulfilled promises of the economic, political and cultural model in Mexico. The
discourse that supported this process was the one of the sociologists and politologists.
Never before the Sociology and the Political Science had such a predominant place as it
occurred during the 1970’s.
Third period: Research In Political Science and the Expansion of the Educational
Offer, 1971 – 1990.
During the period from 1971 to 1990, two events define the impulse for the development of
the national Political Science. One is the conformation of a solid group of political
researchers that created a systematic way of working in harmony with the area of
investigation, not only at UNAM but also at other universities which were interested in
offering an academic program of undergraduate courses of Political Science. With this
expansion of the offer the increase in the number of students followed.
By the beginning of the 1970’s, as Silva notes (1989: 95), an over ideologization occurred
in the Social Sciences discourse, mainly the sociological and politological. Thus, the
analysis of the new social realities was substituted for a doctrinary work of learning without
questioning some thoughts of Marxism. This eliminated the teaching and discussion of
other paradigms in the Social Sciences resulting in a delay of other interpretations and way
of analyzing the national problems. The way of thinking the social – political reality was
substituted by a dogma; the field work was replaced by the desk work and in there the
instrumental and analytic problematic intensified resulting in the theory impoverishment of
the research made.
The 1970’s decade is fundamental to the discipline for various reasons, overall, because of
the impact of 20 years of work the Political Science had done. During that time the
governmental and administrative institutions experienced an increase in their areas of
participation and intervention, under the economy development mixed model, the creation
of the UNAM and particularly of the FCPyS, caused new opportunities opened for the
disciplinary development matching those modifications. Also, during that decade the
Departamento de Especialidad en Ciencias Políticas is transformed to the Centro de
Estudios Políticos (CEP) (Pérez, 2004; 303); it was composed by a body of full time
professors dedicated to research relevant characteristics of the Mexican political system and
its actors.
By 1971, when the CEP was formed, its role inside and outside the faculty has oriented the
discipline and the guild of politologists in Mexico. The topics of interest that the CEP
started to work were: ideology and political thought; political aggrupations and interest
groups, social classes and social groups; the State, public institutions and political parties;
and university and student movements. The results of those researches were published in
leaflets, journals, books and by 1970’s mid-decade in the Revista de Estudios Políticos,
edited by the CEP itself since 1975 and in the Revista Mexicana de Sociología, edited by
the Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales. In September of 1974 the first professional
association was born in Mexico: El Colegio Nacional de Ciencias Políticas y
Administración Pública (CNCPAP).
30 years after the creation of the Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales (1951)
needed to happen to graduate the first Mexican Phd in Political Science, He was Arnaldo
Córdova, his doctoral research ended with the publication of the now classic text, La
Ideología de la Revolución Mexicana (Merino, 1999). Other remarkable graduates of the
doctorate programe of Political Science were: Enrique Suárez Iñiguez, Octavio Rodríguez
Araujo and Carlos Sirvent Gutiérrez, whom conformed the first generation of professional
experts in the discipline and started the tradition to teach new generations of politologists.
Almost three decades needed to happen for a change in the national political context and
the expansion of this area of knowledge that would result in an identifiable community of
Mexican politologists. The first master thesis in Political Science inside the FCPyS –
UNAM is the one of Luis A. González Martínez in 1979.
The creation of postgraduate programs and the creation of CEP were important actions to
consolidate the disciplinary identity that helped the expansion of teaching and research of
Political Science from that moment on. This increase in the educational offer is the second
element that shows the importance of the 1970’s decade for this area of study. Because the
increase represented also more students, so in quantitative terms there were also advances.
Academic progams offer and increase in registration
In 1972, the UNAM and the Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales offered a new type of
teaching with the Sistema Universidad Abierta, the academic programs were reachable to
other sector of the population that didn’t have the opportunity to study in the traditional
way. Also, the creation of the undergraduate courses of Political Science in the Escuela
Nacional de Estudios Profesionales in Acatlán (ENEP – Acatlán) was supported and
achieved (Sirvent, 2004).
The process of decentralization promoted by the government caused the creation of
universities in other states of Mexico. The main model to follow was the UNAM with a
goal to prepare the students in the technique and the administrative formation, in order for
them to incorporate in the administrative work of the governmental offices and the
increasing number of State enterprises. In 1976 the newly created Universidad Autónoma
Metropolitana (UAM) in Iztapalapa, Mexico City opened the undergraduate courses of
Political Science, oriented to academic research. During the 1970’s decade according to the
data of the Asociación Nacional de Universidades e Instituciones de Educación Superior
(ANUIES) the quantity of programs nationwide increased from 3 to 17 and the students
registered grew from 613 to 2,752. This has been a constant and maintains at the present.
The expansion is an element that allow to identify its ulterior consolidation and also
constitutes a definitive factor of diversification of the student characteristics as a
phenomena that provoked the widening of the topics and research objects of interest
(Gutiérrez, 2011: 387).
During the 1980’s decade, the Political Science achieved a protagonist place that coincides
with the increase in the interest of the public affairs among different sectors of the Mexican
population and also because the specialized scientific community grew stronger; they
created publications, departments and investigation centers. This decade must be
considered a period of delay in the development of the discipline, although it benefited
from the theory and empirical advances, the Mexican contribution as a whole is marginal.
During these years, the Mexican Political Science remained outside the debates about its
scientific nature, methods, object of study and its relation with other sciences. Those
discussions occurred in the United States and other countries like France, Italy and the
United Kingdom.
The volume of research production and the increase of politologists focus their analyses in
the problems of the Mexican reality like: representation and political participation, balance
of powers, federalism, local governments, presidentialism, democratization and democracy
consolidation, among others (Loaeza, 2005:201).
The consolidation of Political Science as a discipline needed a new definition of its
politological profile since the labor market was expanding and diversifying, this
phenomena asked for knowledge about politics and policies and to look for answers of the
national political problems (Peschard, 1986: 178). The politological point of view would
need to offer novelty elements and also effective to reach better decisions and to answer a
society surrounded with problems in the political and social frame (Bokser, 1999).
The educational offer, during the 1980’s tose years, duplicated from 17 to 36 academic
programs, while the registration practically tripled from 2,752 to 7,565 students. This
tendency towards the expansion of the discipline has maintained to the present. During the
last 20 years, 36 new programs were opened and the registration increased to 11,588
students, that 53.2% more that when that period started.
Fourth period: Expansion and Consolidation of Discipline: New Interpretations of the
Political Phenomena, 1991 – Present
Towards the dawning of the 21st century, the knowledge field of Mexican Political Science
reached an important degree of consolidation. The reason that could explain the increase of
academic spaces and registration of the discipline in the Mexican universities in the last 20
years can be found in the transformation processes of the political system started during the
1980’s. Today Mexico is more plural and diversified in cultural, social and political terms.
Without a doubt, this scenario has awaken the interest and expectations of young people to
know the political reality and to look for solutions to its problematic, at the same time, they
perceive that studying this discipline is also an attractive option in order for them to enter
the labor market and develop professionally (Puga, 1997).
From the 1990’s decade, important transformations can be observed in Mexico, mainly in
the institutional arrangement of the State and in the organizations and structures. From this
moment on, the State, selected carefully to its members among those legitimized with
certain technician and scientific criteria oriented towards the neoliberal, neocapitalist
modernization model. The political options were called technical options and this is when
the idea spreads out that no other can make better decisions than the so called experts or
specialists (Gallegos, 1989).
Those facts modified the investigation agenda and even to the Political Science as a
discipline was affected. The incorporation of new topics for the political analysis and the
formation of an increasing number of PhD’s in Political Science had an important impact in
the consolidation of the Academic Political Science in Mexico. Even after the expansion of
the education offer in the country, as it is showed in Chart 1, by 2012, 65% of the national
Political Science researchers of the country belong to the National Researchers System and
are concentrated in the metropolitan areas.
Chart 1. SNI researchers in Political Science by regions, 2012.
Source: Prepared by the authors based on data by Roqueñi (2013).
About the expansion of the discipline it is important to mention the increase of the
undergraduate programs offered in Mexico. In 1951 existed only one program of Political
Science and in 2010 at least one of the universities in 29 of the 32 states of Mexico offered
one of it. In those states, during the academic period of 2009 – 2010, existed 87 Political
Science programs, In regional terms, the data presented in Chart 2 show that a
concentration of those programs exist within Mexico City and the metropolitan area.
Chart 2. Political Science undergraduate programs by regions
(Academic period 2009 – 2010)
Source: Prepared by the authors based on data by Roqueñi (2013).
After analyzing the behavior of the student registration during the academic period of 2009
– 2010, it can be observed that Mexico City and the State of Mexico are the entities where
the majority of students are concentrated with a total sum of 5,262. This situation impacts
directly in the regional distribution, and again the metropolitan zone of Mexico City is the
one that has the majority of the students registered in an undergraduate program related to
Political Science.
Aiming to guarantee the academic quality of the national programs of the superior
education, in 2000, the Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP) created the Consejo para la
Acreditación de la Educación Superior, A.C. (COPAES). This is a fundamental component
in the process of institutionalization of the discipline since it allows to identify the number
of programs natiowide and their quality. The first association of Social Sciences appeared
in 2002 with the creation of the Asociación para la Certificación y Acreditación en Ciencias
Sociales (ACCECISO). Two years later, in 2004, the first Political Science and Public
Administration undergraduate program was qualified. At present time at least 30 academic
programs has been qualified5.
Another distinctive element in the creation of the institutional structure of the Political
Science is the creation of the professional associations (Suárez – Iñiguez, 2013). Although
exist two historical examples, the Colegio Nacional de Ciencias Políticas y Administración
Pública (1974) and the Asociación Mexicana de Ciencia Política, created by the Dr.
Enrique González Pedrero during de 1980’s. Until 2012 it was constituted the Consejo
Mexicano de Investigación en Ciencia Política, A.C. (COMICIP), reclaiming both previous
efforts, it included remarkable researchers of all the country6. That same year, the
Asociación Mexicana de Ciencia Política (AMECIP) was created.
Final thoughts
In the university space and research of Social Sciences, the systematic study of politics has
promoted the development of the discipline, it has gained specificity and has appropriated
some objects of investigation from other areas of knowledge. Along the country were
formed departments and research centers dedicated to this specialty, in public and private
institutions. Also, the number of students registered in undergraduate and graduate courses
5
For further information, COPAES: http://www.copaes.org.mx/FINAL/inicio.php
Also, ACCECISO: www.acceciso.org.mx
6
For further information: www.comicip.org.mx
has increased and there has also been a growth in the edition and publication of specialized
journals and books dedicated to the professional political analysis.
Around Political Science, a knowledge community has emerged, dedicated to the study of
various power related topics according to shared scientific rules. Epistemic communities
that share a language, theory interests, all of them observant of the advance of the discipline
in other countries, adding theory and empirical efforts, in order to solve the relevant
political problems.
This process suggests the existence and the consolidation of Political Science in the
country. It was a complex activity that fortified itself as a real space that simulated the
structural and present conditions of the national and international context.
Nowadays, the growth of the academic programs, the number of researchers, the
institutional consolidation, the creation of epistemic communities and the number of
students registered is quantitative superior. In the last 20 years, if compared to other social
disciplines, that increase may seem marginal. After a few decades in which the discipline
was under the shadow of the Public Administration, now one can find a science that in its
Mexican version was nurtured by all the economic, humanist and social disciplines. This
fact explains the reason it enriched from different theory perspectives and also explains the
critiques made about the scientific status of the Political Science.
A characteristic element of the disciplinary development in Mexico can be found in the
explosion of the politics as an activity, as a topic of general interest and as a discipline in
the field of Social Sciences. Until the decade of the 1990’s it can be observed a systematic
publication of results in articles and specialized books.
Today, the Mexican Political Science lives an unprecedented growth and the politologists
guild serves a role that in the past was taken by other academic and institutional sectors.
The professional politologists in Mexico have an influence capacity in the governmental,
social and political decision – making processes, some of them have created consulting
companies, they participate in the media and in civil organizations or has incorporated in
the Legislative, Judicial and Executive power in the federal and local spheres.
There is a long road to travel, it is a necessity to develop new research because the
reflection about the discipline has been lacking in the investigation agendas. It would be
wise to present some questions about its history, but particularly about its future. Which are
the theory tendencies or foci that the Mexican Political Science use to explain the political
and social phenomena?; Which is the responsibility that the academics and social scientists
have to explain problems and propose solutions?; What does the academic community need
to do to have a role in the national and international discussions?; How to create dialogue
between researchers?; How to transmit the Political Science research in order to help in the
solution of national problems? This questions and some more are unanswered. The
investigation agenda is wide and surely this topics will be debated in the next decades.
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