The book “Opening Mexico” is written by two New York Time correspondents, Julia Preston and Samuel Dillon, in Mexico City from 1995 to 2000. The book provides an insight into how the post-war dictatorship collapsed into an incipient democracy in the late 90’s.

The Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) or Institutional Revolution Party was the political party that ruled Mexico at the local, state and national levels from 1929 to the late 1990’s. The party emerged after the Mexican revolution in the second decade of the twentieth century. After the assassination of President-elect Álvaro Obregón, the outgoing President Plutarco Elías Calles was confronted with several charges including the alleged involvement in Obregón’s death. Calles, therefore called for the formation of an organization that would bring together all those who were favoring reforms and would help promote stability in the nation.

The prime objective of PRI at the time of its conception was to create a peaceful method of presidential succession. It was important for stability in Mexico since the last three presidential transfers had been marked by disputes. This resulted in the concentration of power in a president that ruled uncontested for six years. It was necessary to do so to provide stability in the government, which was thitherto marred by disruptions. The president could only serve one term, but they handpicked their successors.

Mexico under PRI was a revolutionary state under the firm guidance of a set of stable institutions. These institutions, however, were not fully representative. The line between the actions of the government and the party was not always clear as both PRI and the government had highly centralized bureaucracies. The PRI enjoyed full control of the state treasury and bought off intellectual and union organizers. The ones that could not be bought were dealt with violence, a facet that played an important role in giving unbridled power to PRI.

The brutality and the rigidity of the system did not pose an impediment to its smooth running. It did so for more almost 60 years since its inception. The iron-fisted rule of the system was primarily responsible for its stability in the times that followed the anarchy after the Mexican Revolution. The national elite, however, was still marred with power struggles but the rigidity of the system assured that it did not degenerate into a civil war or a revolution like had been the case earlier.

After the end of the Mexican Revolution, Miguel Alemán Valdés was the first president to be selected without any military backing. After his assumption of office in 1946, he started to recruit officials from among university graduates rather than from the military. He improved ties with the United States and emphasized industrial and agricultural growth along with foreign investment in the country. During his period, Mexico saw the emergence of a dual society. The higher income class was based on the industrial growth, while the poor class was tied to the labor-intensive activities. This widened the schism between the two sections and contributed to growing inequality. The corruption also rose during his time, which resulted in the selection of Adolfo Ruíz Cortines as president in 1952. Foremost among Cortines’ concerns was to curb the growing corruption and he indeed succeeded in reining it in. He, however, was not able to control the growing use of bribery at lower bureaucratic levels. He also gave suffrage to women in 1953 through a constitutional change.

During the 1960’s, Mexico faced growing social problems. The underestimation of these problems led to several upheavals and incidents in the decade. President Díaz Ordaz stepped up the repression to avoid any incidents during the Olympics in Mexico City, which resulted in a clash between 10,000 students and the soldiers in Tlateloco. The incident shocked the whole country that was already facing political failures and an economic decline. The economic problems at that time led to mass urbanizations and the cities started to be populated at an alarming rate. This left the country in a state of high unemployment and other social problems. The government, in an effort to curb opposition, decreed wage increases and distributed land among several thousand peasants.

In 1970, Luis Echeverría Álvarez became the president of Mexico and he tried to decrease the growing inequality in the nation. He also took steps to improve the economy of Mexico and loosen the economic ties with the United States. The 70’s saw the Mexican economic crises deepen except for a few reprises like the oil discovery in mid-70s. The windfall of oil discoveries also led to lavish government expenditures, corruption and an upward-spiraling foreign debt. In the 80s the oil prices in the world market dropped sharply which put a dent in Mexico’s economy that was hugely dependant on oil exports. This led the nation into a severe economic recession and the foreign debt went even higher. During this time, many government officials were jailed on charges of fraud in the campaign against narcotics – which generated vast amounts of money and bribes to government officials. This mismanagement also strengthened the opposition parties in Mexico. There was a huge outcry against the PRI in its failure in dealing against such acts and its inability to handle the situation after the 1985 earthquake. The public were growingly becoming skeptical of its government and believed the elections were rigged. The 70s also saw a conflict between the politicos and the técnicos, the latter having little party experience.

Around the end of 80s, the PRI went through a split that was further divided after the selection of Carlos Salinas de Gortari. Carlos’ win, however, was considered fraudulent and the majority held the view that the elections were actually won by Lázaro Cárdenas. Salinas’ period was undermined with political and financial scandals and this consequently damaged the status of PRI.

The Zapatista rebellion that broke out in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas in January 1994 increased pressure on the PRI. To further pejoration was the 1994 elections campaign that saw the death of the PRI’s presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta and the party won elections by only 50% votes. The political situation was worsened in 1995 when Salinas’ brother Raúl Salinas was arrested on charges of engineering José Francisco Ruiz Massieu’s assassination. This created further rift between Carlos Salinas and Zadillo, the president at the time, which further damaged the reputation of PRI. In 1996, the government and the Zapatista signed several accords that gave indigenous people adequate representation. The 1997 elections resulted in further increase the opposition parties vote bank, though PRI still won.

The 2000 elections finally saw the end of PRI, when Vincent Fox of National Action Party (PAN) became the president of Mexico. This saw the start of democracy in Mexico, although it was still in it nascent stages. "The making of Mexico's democracy was distinctive in many ways. There was no Nelson Mandela, no single leader to personify and guide the struggle. Nor was there a single democratic movement, but rather a multitude of initiatives from individuals and groups across the society and the country, which gradually converged as more and more Mexicans became convinced of the need to end the PRI's despotic rule."

The main reasons that led up to the democratization were the degenerate economic and social conditions that were prevalent in the country and the public’s loosening faith in PRI. There were failures among the government too and several scandals that had a bearing on the country’s future