Between Individual and Collective Action: Citizen Participation and Public Oversight in Mexico's Oportunidades Programme

Indigenous unrest and the contentious politics of social assistance in Mexico

“…There are only few number of studies focusing analytically on the causes or dynamics of social assistance provision. But, most of these studies are limited to structuralist perspectives that draw arguments predominantly from Mexico's concomitant problem of extreme poverty accelerated after the adoption of neoliberal policies, presenting social assistance expansion as a result of growing efforts to alleviate poverty (Briere and Rawlings 2006;Fiszbein and Schady 2009;Jara 2007;Rawlings 2005;Rowe 2011;Skoufias 2005; Ulrichs and Roelen 2012). Finally, there are only a very limited number of political analyses of social assistance, yet these studies mainly focus on electoral competition, party politics and practices of clientelism as drivers of social assistance provision (Bruhn 1996;Cornelius 2004;De La O 2013;Diaz-Cayeros, Magaloni andEstevez 2009 and2016;Green 2006;Luccisano and Macdonald 2012;Perez Yarahuan 2005).…”

“…While debates on social protection unfolded, the Zedillo administration was pressured to come up with innovative approaches to reduce poverty in response to the economic crisis (Adato and Hoddinott 2010;Davila Larraga 2016). Indeed, due to PRONASOL's reputation for political manipulation, Zedillo distanced himself from his predecessor and dismantled the program, regardless of its political impact (Jara 2007;Yaschine and Orozco 2010). Following the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which came into force on January 1, 1994, PROCAMPO was introduced as an agricultural subsidy program, designed for small farmers to provide them with income support and promote their competitiveness in the market by transferring cash per hectare of cultivated land (Sadoulet et al 2001).…”

“…In 1997, after the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) lost the congressional majority for the first time in the history of the legislative elections, PROGRESA (Programa de Educación, Salud y Alimentación), which was designed as a type of conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, emerged as an incentive-based, anti-poverty policy agenda and a social experiment that would have an unpredicted global impact (Adato and Hoddinott 2010). PROGRESA became the largest single poverty-alleviation program in Mexico's history covering 2.5 million families (Jara 2007;Niño-Zarazúa 2011). The program was soon-tobe perceived as an ideal model in combating extreme poverty and was heavily praised by international organizations.…”

“…Gil-Garcia's (2016) ethnographic fieldwork in the indigenous community of La Gloria also reveals how PROSPERA fosters community divisions to destabilize collective efforts towards indigenous autonomy through a process of coercion and consent (Gil-Garcia 2016, 462). Following the introduction of the CCT programs that occurred shortly after the Zapatista uprising, reported incidents of social decomposition and intra-communal conflicts within indigenous regions increased (Jara 2007). This increase might be a result of the government's attempts to isolate and dismantle rebel communities by offering access to the program in exchange for their support and controversially feeding counter-Zapatista forces (Gonzalez-Hidalgo 2017;Mora 2008;Ochoa Leon 2011).…”