The rise and fall of Mexico's green movement/Auge y caida del movimiento verde de Mexico

An important component of the process of political change Mexico has undergone over the last two decades has been mass mobilization of society, as numerous sectors have pulled out of corporatist structures and placed demands directly upon the state. It is within this 'thickening' of civil society that Mexico's environmental movement emerged, strengthened and was ultimately able to achieve numerous policy triumphs during the 1990s. Puzzlingly, however, since the end of PRI rule in the 2000 elections and the advent of democratic politics, Mexico's environmental movement has suffered a severe weakening, a weakening which has resulted in very limited impact on national environmental policy. This article examines the reasons behind the weakening of Mexican environmentalism since 2000. Based on data obtained through field research and in-depth personal interviews with key state and non-state actors, this article presents the argument that the weakening of the Mexican environmentalism is primarily due to a 'leadership vacuum' produced by the inclusion of the movement's key actors into positions within the Environment Ministry during the first half of Fox's administration (2000-06). Un importante componente del proceso de cambio politico que ha sufrido Mexico en las ultimas dos decadas ha sido la movilizacion masiva de la sociedad, a medida que numerosos sectores han salido de sus estructuras corporativas para exigir reivindicaciones directamente al estado. Es dentro de este contexto de 'densificacion' de la sociedad civil que emergio el movimiento ecologista de Mexico, para luego consolidarse y alcanzar finalmente una serie de logros importantes a nivel de politica ambiental durante la decada de los 90. Sin embargo, y de manera extrana, desde el fin del priato en las elecciones de 2000 y el advenimiento de la democracia electoral en el pais, el movimiento ecologista mexicano parece haberse debilitado, lo que ha resultado en una incidencia mucho menor en la politica ambiental del pais. Este articulo analiza los factores que explican este fenomeno. Basandose en investigacion de campo y una serie de exhaustivas entrevistas personales con actores estatales y no estatales, el articulo defiende la tesis de que el debilitamiento del movimiento ecologista mexicano se debe primordialmente a una falta de liderazgo provocada por el nombramiento de actores claves del movimiento en importantes cargos dentro de la Secretaria de Medio Ambiente durante la primera mitad del gobie