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Migraciones Internacionales e-ISSN: 2594-0279

Papers

Vol. 2 No. 4 (2003): January-June, 2003

El Rey del Tomate Migrant Political Transnationalism and Democratization in Mexico

DOI
https://doi.org/10.17428/rmi.v2i4.1273
Published
2017-06-30

Abstract

The highly publicized transnational political campaign of Andrés Bermúdez, who ran for mayor of Jerez, Zacatecas, is considered in terms of a continuum of theoretical frameworks on democratic theory and practice. Grounded in intensive qualitative interviews with key participants in the campaign, the study addresses the following questions: To what extent does the Bermúdez candidacy contribute to opening up the Mexican political system to the electoral participation of migrants? What implications do the political processes revealed here have for full-scale dual citizenship, including absentee voting and transnational campaigning by Mexican migrants living in the United States? What does the Bermúdez story contribute to our theoretical understanding of the character and significance of migrant political transnationalism at the present moment? Answers to these questions make it possible to determine the role of the Bermúdez campaign in the ongoing saga of democratization in contemporary Mexico.RESUMENLa ampliamente publicitada campaña política transnacional de Andrés Bermúdez, que contendió como candidato para alcalde de Jerez, Zacatecas, es analizada en términos de un continuum de marcos teóricos sobre teoría y práctica de la democracia. Con base en intensivas entrevistas cualitativas con participantes importantes de la campaña, este estudio considera las siguientes cuestiones: ¿Hasta qué punto la candidatura de Bermúdez contribuye a la apertura del sistema político mexicano hacia la participación electoral de los migrantes? ¿Qué implicaciones tienen los procesos políticos aquí mencionados para una implementación a gran escala de la doble ciudadanía, incluyendo el voto en el extranjero y las campañas transnacionales de migrantes mexicanos que viven en los Estados Unidos? ¿En qué contribuye el caso de Bermúdez para nuestro conocimiento teórico sobre el carácter y significado del transnacionalismo político de los migrantes en el momento presente? Las respuestas a estos cuestionamientos hacen posible determinar el papel que tuvo la campaña de Bermúdez en el proceso actual de democratización del México contemporáneo.

Cover image

Keywords

  • international migration
  • political transnationalism
  • dual citizenship
  • Andrés Bermúdez
  • Jerez
  • Zacatecas

How to Cite

Bakker, M., & Peter Smith, M. (2017). El Rey del Tomate Migrant Political Transnationalism and Democratization in Mexico. Migraciones Internacionales, 2(4), 59–83. https://doi.org/10.17428/rmi.v2i4.1273
Copyright Notice

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  91. Fecha de recepción: 28 de marzo de 2003
  92. Fecha de aceptación: 21 de mayo de 2003