When countries become more democratic, new opportunities arise
for individuals and groups to participate in politics and influence
the making of policy. But democratization does not ensure better
representation for everyone, and indeed some sectors of society are
ill-equipped to take advantage of these new opportunities. Small
industry in Mexico, Kenneth Shadlen shows, is an excellent example
of a sector whose representation decreased during
democratization.
Shadlen's analysis focuses on the basic characteristics of small
firms that complicate the process of securing representation in
both authoritarian and democratic environments. He then shows how
increased pluralism and electoral competition served to exacerbate
the political problems facing the sector during the course of
democratization in Mexico. These characteristics created problems
for small firms both in acting collectively through interest
associations and civil society organizations and in wielding power
within political parties. The changes that democratization effected
in the structure of corporatism put small industry at a significant
disadvantage in the policy-making arena even while there was
general agreement on the crucial importance of this sector in the
new neoliberal economy, especially for generating employment. The
final chapter extends the analysis by making comparisons with the
experience of small industry representation in Argentina and
Brazil.
Shadlen uses extensive interviews and archival research to
provide new evidence and insights on the difficult challenges of
interest aggregation and representation for small industry. He
conducted interviews with a wide range of owners and managers of
small firms, state and party officials, and leaders of business
associations and civil society organizations. He also did research
at the National Archives in Mexico City and in the archives of the
most important business organizations for small industry in the
post-World War II period.
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