Book Reviews : Mexican Government in Transition. By ROBERT E. SCOTT. (Urbana: Univer sity of Illinois Press, 1959. Pp. 306. $5.75.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591296001300346
• Author: L.V. Padgett
• Date: 01 September 1960
• Published date: 01 September 1960
• Subject Matter: Articles

835

When

Arbenz

came

into

power,

Schneider

points

out,

he

had

more

non,

Communist

than

Communist

followers.

Gradually,

however,

the

Communists

replaced

the

non-Communists

by

identifying

themselves

with

the

aspirations

and

demand

for

change

unleased

by

an

indigenous

social

revolution.

As

the

influence

of

the

Communists

in

the

Arbenz

regime

became

increasingly

evident,

many

army

officers

became

concerned

with

the

difficult

international

situation

in

which

the

foreign

and

domestic

policies

of

the

government

were

placing

the

nation.

So

by

June,

1954,

the

question

before

the

nation

was

whether

Arbenz

owed

his

loyalty

to

the

Communists

or

to

the

army.

There

was

no

third

group

affecting

the

balance

of

power.

Since

Arbenz

overestimated

the

Communist

force

in

Guatemala

(he

ordered

5,000

armed

workers

to

the

front

against

Castillo

Armas

but

only

a

small

number

of

workers

were

ready

or

willing

to

act),

he

pledged

him-

self

to

the

Communists

which

meant

the

collapse

of

his

regime.

University

of

Arizona

PETER

A.

TOMA

Mexican

Government

in

Transition.

By

ROBERT

E.

SCOTT.

(Urbana:

Univer-

sity

of

Illinois

Press,

1959.

Pp. 306.

$5.75.)

This

volume

provides

the

first

systematic

treatment

of

Mexican

politics

and

government

within

the

relatively

new

framework

of

concepts

often

referred

to

as

the

&dquo;political

process&dquo;

approach.

Explaining

his

methodology,

Professor

Scott

tells

us

that

&dquo;process

analysis&dquo;

as

applied

to

the

study

of

politics

focuses

upon

groups

which

are

conceived

as

arrangements

of

interdependent

variables

having

continuous

and

predictable

relational

patterns.

The

advantage

of

such

an

approach

is

that

it

utilizes

conceptual

categories

such

as

decision-making

and

group

interaction

which

are

assumed

to

be

applicable

to

all

political

systems,

thus

encouraging

comparison

and

generalization.

However,

the

author,

having

advised

us

of

the

desirability

of

this

approach

both

in

universal

terms

and

with

specific

reference

to

its

usefulness

on

the

Mexican

scene,

is

able

to

resist

the

lure

of

methodological

discussion

for

its

own

sake

and

proceed

with

a

thorough-

going

factual

presentation

with

judicious

use

of

analytical

distinctions

along

the

way.

Change

in

Mexico

since

the

Revolution

of

1910-17

is

viewed

as

a

move-

ment

on

a

continuum

from

&dquo;non-Western&dquo;

to

&dquo;Western&dquo;

with

the

United

States

used

as

a

model

or

prototype

of

&dquo;Western&dquo;

in

juxtaposition

to

the

&dquo;non-Western&dquo;

world.

Professor

Scott

finds

that

Mexico

has

moved

many

degrees

away

from

the

accepted

theoretical

criteria

for

classification

of

countries

as

&dquo;non-Western,&dquo;

though

the

Mexican

model

certainly

differs

from

the

United

States;

but

&dquo;Mexico

has

been

able

to

evolve

its

own

Western-style

political

system,

one

which

works.&dquo;

This

thesis

can

only

be

maintained

by

shaving

distinctions

somewhat

finer

than

usual

while

threading

through

a

maze

of

complex

events

and

seemingly

contradictory

sets

of

facts,

such

as:

one-party

victories,

but

multi-party

competi-

tion ;

a

federal

system

ideologically

extolling

&dquo;free&dquo;

local

government,

but

states

and

municipalities

still

very

much

dependent

financially

and

politically

upon

the

central

government;

continued

emphasis

upon

individual

and

family

loyal-