Economic, political and social development in Mexico: background and stage 1940-2018

Abstract

This essay is structured within the historical method, with a hermeneutic paradigm, with indirect sources and qualitative approach. The Mexican nation has experienced economic and political turbulences during its history; the colonial era was observed for three centuries since the pre-Hispanic conquest; the birth and consolidation of independent Mexico spanned 60 years of the nineteenth century, and the stability and economic growth of the country is observed from 1870 to 1910. After the post-revo-lutionary stage, the nationalist economic policies of Cárdenas served as predecessors of the economic expansion that would be experienced from 1940 to 1970, with the models of growth without stabilization (1940-1954) and with the stabilizing develop-ment or Mexican economic miracle (1955-1970). From 1982 onwards, two ideological currents lead a dispute for the nation: the so-called revolutionary nationalists and the neoliberals, where the latter were the winners and dominated the country for more than three decades in the political, economic and academic spheres (1985-2018). The political system is considered as a presidential system and was maintained for sixty years (1940-2000), when Partido Revolucionario Institucional (pri) —Institutional Re-volutionary Party— loses for the first time the presidential elections. As of 2004, the Social Development Law and its respective regulations are enacted with the purpose of establishing the enjoyment of public policies that benefit the Mexican population.