Development And Democratization In Mexico:

This article presents a cross‐sectional analysis of the relationship between democracy and development in thirty‐two Mexican provinces (thirty‐one states plus the Federal District). The analysis suggests that socioeconomic modernization – whether measured by income, indices of material well‐being, education, industrialization, urbanization, or some combination – exerts a powerful, positive influence on democratization across states. However, the political effects of modernization vary across regions of Mexico. Areas ‐whose economies have traditionally been based on commerce and industry (including Mexico's northern belt) appear to follow a familiar pattern, democratizing as they develop economically. By contrast, development has less politically powerful consequences on states with a long history oflabor‐ suppressive agriculture and mineral extraction (including most of Mexico's south). In short, different regions of Mexico appear to be following separate political trajectories.