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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . El Colegio de M6xicoEste ensayo examina el surgimiento y la consolidaci6n del presidencialismo en Mexico en el siglo XX. Tambien discute los sucesos que condujeron a la centralizacion en el proceso de tomar decisiones y en el modo c6mo la centralizacion del poder en la presidencia emergi6 en las decadas de 1940-70 como una seria amenaza al desarrollo politico e institucional del pais. Mexico's presidentialism and its political system have been analyzed basically from two perspectives: one is mainly concerned with legal aspects (I am referring to Jorge Carpizol), while the other describes presidentialism as an all-embracing power originating with the Mexican Revolution and continuing into the present (Manuel Moreno Sanchez2).The only analysis which combines these two views on the basis of historical transformations the country has undergone has been that of Octavio Paz.3 According to Paz, the roots of presidentialism can be found in the specific nature of the Mexican political tradition, characterized by a process whereby the different cultural molds-Indian, Spanish, mestizo, and creole-are synthesized. The result of this process is a political tradition "lacking an ideology" which leads to "a respectful veneration by Mexicans of the figure of the president."