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From Martyrdom to Power provides a comprehensive examination of the origins, development, and rising electoral prominence of Mexico’s Partido Acción Nacional (PAN). Yemile Mizrahi, widely recognized as a leading authority on this topic, has based this book on extensive research and original field work over the past ten years. Her personal interviews with government officials and party leaders and her surveys of public opinion in three Mexican states enrich this unique study.
Mizrahi’s theoretical and empirical analysis of the electoral success of PAN is situated within a larger assessment of political parties and the changes they undergo. Her discussion of how and why political parties adjust to changes in the political landscape is particularly relevant to scholars of Latin America. Mizrahi contends that PAN party leaders have not acted quickly or decisively enough in making internal changes that will allow them to make a smooth transition from a survivalist minority party to Mexico’s ruling party. In contrast to the past, when the PAN’s main problems were associated with its inefficacy in the electoral arena, today the party confronts problems associated with its electoral success. Mizrahi argues that PAN’s relatively unchanged party structure presents serious obstacles to electoral expansion. Mizrahi’s account is analytically powerful and offers clear policy and political suggestions for her subject itself.
This definitive work will be welcomed by political scientists, policy makers, and scholars of Latin America.
"The strength of this insightful work stems from the author's extensive field research in Mexico, and her contact and ultimately friendships with numerous leading politicians and businessmen engaged in wresting control of the political system long before PAN achieved success on the national level. She argues that the PAN developed numerous characteristics strengthening its ability to survive in the hostile environment the PRI created, but that the party now faces different challenges as a governing party and has not adequately met those challenges. Her major thesis is that the party's internal rules severely limit the PAN's flexibility to adapt to a more competitive environment." —The Americas, vol. 61 no. 2, October 2004
“We still have too few excellent books on specific political parties in Latin America. Mizrahi’s admirable study of the Mexican PAN, which draws on many years of careful research, is therefore an invaluable building block in the larger effort to create an empirically sound comparative literature on parties. Through analyzing the remarkable trajectory of the PAN, the book likewise provides welcome and timely insight into contemporary Mexican politics.” —David Collier, University of California, Berkeley
“Mizrahi’s findings raise important questions about the future of Mexican politics. This clearly written and convincing study is essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary Mexican politics.” —Perspectives on Political Science
"...excellently argued and presented... ...essential to anyone wanting to understand the current political climate of Mexico." —Multicultural Review
“Mizrahi’s account of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) has both analytical power and clear policy implications. PAN leaders would be wise to take her suggestions about party organization and rules seriously.” —Joseph Klesner, Kenyon College
“...an important book....” —CHOICE
"...will certainly become standard fare for students of new Mexican politics." —Latin American Research Review
“Yemile Mizrahi’s fine analysis of the PAN's evolution over the decades sheds important light on the organizational and ideological problems plaguing the party’s transformation from a longstanding opposition force to a governing party that can effectively consolidate its electoral support. This thoroughly researched and theoretically sophisticated volume is highly recommended to Mexicanists in particular and Latin Americanists in general.” —Kurt Weyland, University of Texas at Austin
Yemile Mizrahi is an affiliate of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars as a public policy scholar and works as a consultant in Washington, D.C.