REFLECTIONS ON THE STATE IN MODERN MEXICO (Reflexiones sobre el Estado en México Moderno)

Resumen

This paper takes up a discussion on the state in the context of so-called Mexico. It starts by exploring the state’s peculiar existence, both in its constant struggle to unify and define itself as something which truly is, and also in its simultaneous concrete yet abstract presence. These two characteristics help us understand the historical development of the state in modern Mexico, and the complexity of pinning downstate power. Next, the paper turns to the state’s hostile relationship to self-organization, in order to think of the state as a particular form of social organization grounded in relations of domination, and opposed to the self-organization of the people. Lastly, this paper offers some thoughts on recent developments in Mexico, which show the state’s continuing quest to smash or regulate self-organization into nonexistence, and thus (re)produce the state and its power.