Subnational governance in Mexico: the unending persistence of dependency

As a federal country, Mexico grants autonomy to its states, allowing them to select their own authorities, manage tax collection, and formulate and implement public policies. However, for the majority of the20th century, the country remained under the authoritarian rule of a single party, which resulted in subnational governments being politically reliant on the central government and unable to exercise their autonomy effectively. Although the situation began to change during the 1980s and 1990s with the advent of democratization and decentralization, and governors emerged as significant political figures, Mexican states still find themselves in a position of dependency today. In this chapter, I argue that this outcome can be attributed to a dual dynamic. Firstly, state governments displayed a reluctance to assume additional fiscal responsibilities, seeking to avoid the costs associated with increased tax collection. Secondly, the federal government actively pursued recentralization measures to exert greater control over various policy domains.