Political Parties and American Democracy Mini-Conference I: Author Meets Critics: "Claiming and Contesting Representation in Mexico"

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Part of Mini-Conference

• Political Parties and American Democracy Mini-Conference I

Session Description

Claiming and Contesting Representation in Mexico: Meanings, Practices and Settings (Bristol University Press, 2023), edited by Fernando Castaños, Silvia Inclán, and Michael Saward offers the first in-depth English-language analysis of the politics of representation and representative democracy in Mexico. Through innovative conceptual work and original case studies, it explores important trends in Mexican politics and governance through the lens of representation, including who speaks and stands for whom, on what grounds and in what domains. Revealing a significant portrait of major tensions in and threats to democracy across Mexico, the book engages closely with current trends in the theory and practice of political representation, draws on interdisciplinary approaches, and offers fresh perspectives on the processes that shape political life.

With its productive mutual dynamic between theory and practice as a defining feature, the volume is both about Mexico and about the world of representation seen from Mexico. The book contains rich new studies of electoral party, civil society, social movement, ethnic, gender, bureaucratic, corporate, and associative representation – at the local as well as the national level. Chapter authors apply the topical and ground-breaking idea of the ‘representative claim’, at the same time adapting and refining that perspective, while each chapter also deploys and defines further cutting-edge concepts.

The authors of the book’s texts are: Fernando Castaños, Silvia Inclán, Alejandro Monsiváis, Matilde Luna, José Luis Velasco, Cristina Puga, Iván Islas, Carina Galar, Scott McLean, Laura Montes de Oca Barrera, Ricardo Tirado, and Michael Saward. They work at various centres of Mexico’s National University (UNAM) and Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF), Canada’s Calgary University and the UK’s University of Warwick.

This Meet the Authors roundtable will offer an account of the book’s distinctive overall contribution, presented by Fernando Castaños, and a deeper dive into the arguments of four chapters by their authors (or coauthors): Alejandro Monsiváis, “Representative claims in Mexico’s 2018 election”; Carina Galar, “Contesting gender representation in Oaxaca´s indigenous communities”; Cristina Puga, “Participatory democracy in Yucatán; and José Luis Velasco, “Representation in complex associative systems”. The roundtable will also comprise brief outlines of works in progress stimulated by the book’s arguments and debates, including analyses of representative claims in Mexico’s 2024 election, an experimental design (and preliminary results) to test representative claim framing, and further qualitative data on contestations of gender representation. A group of invited discussants will comment the presentations and there will be dedicated time for audience questions and discussion.

The invited discussants will be Eline Severs (Vrije Universitet, Belgium), Francisco Panizza (London School of Economics and Political Science, UK), and Jorge Cadena (Consejo Mexicano de Ciencias Sociales, Mexico).

The session will be chaired by Michael Saward (University of Warwick, UK).

Sub Unit

• Theme Panel

Chair

• Michael Saward University of Warwick

Presenters

• Fernando Castaños Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

• Eline M. Severs Vrije Universiteit Brussel

• Jorge Cadena-Roa UNAM

• Cristina Puga-Espinosa Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

• Jose Luis Velasco Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico

• Carina Galar Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México