Dictablanda ― Politics, Work, and Culture in Mexico, 1938-1968

This deliberately heterodox volume brings together social historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and political scientists to offer a radical new understanding of the emergence and persistence of the modern Mexican state. It also proposes bold, multidisciplinary approaches to critical problems in contemporary politics. With its blend of contested elections, authoritarianism, and resistance, Mexico foreshadowed the hybrid regimes that have spread across much of the globe. Dictablanda suggests how they may endure.

Contributors. Roberto Blancarte, Christopher R. Boyer, Guillermo de la Pena, Maria Teresa Fernandez Aceves, Paul Gillingham, Rogelio Hernandez Rodriguez, Alan Knight, Gladys McCormick, Tanalis Padilla, Wil G. Pansters, Andrew Paxman, Jaime Pensado, Pablo Piccato, Thomas Rath, Jeffrey W. Rubin, Benjamin T. Smith, Michael Snodgrass

Paul Gillingham is a Lecturer in Latin American History at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Cuauhtemoc’s Bones: Forging National Identity in Modern Mexico.

Benjamin T. Smith is Associate Professor of Latin American History at the University of Warwick. He is author of The Roots of Conservatism in Mexico: Catholicism, Society, and Politics in the Mixteca Baja, 1750–1962, and Pistoleros and Popular Movements: The Politics of State Formation in Postrevolutionary Oaxaca.