Recasting business-government relations in Mexico: the emergence of panista entrepreneurs

Abstract

At the end of the 1980s, Mexico's political landscape experienced dramatic changes as the conservative opposition party, Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) started to win important local elections in several states, particularly in the north. By 1993, the PAN controlled the government in three states, as well as in 103 cities, turning this party into the strongest and most consistent opposition to the ruling party, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). The wave of Panis ta victories in one of the most urbanized and economically dynamic regions of the country represented a serious threat to the still uncontested hegemonic rule of the PRI.