Mexico’s Hope: An Encounter with Politics and History

Mexico’s Hope tells the dramatic story of the making of modern Mexico. In the course of providing compelling analysis of the causes for the vast divide between Mexico’s rich and poor, James Cockcroft illuminates the stark contrast between the country’s corrupt political system and its people’s democratic aspirations.

Mexican economic development is distorted and uneven, Cockcroft explains, because of a longstanding collusion between foreign interests and a domestic ruling class. He describes why important challenges to elite power, including the revolution of 1910-1920 and the 1968 student rebellion, failed to break the grip of the dominant classes.

With particular attention to the contributions of women, Indians, workers, and peasants, Mexico’s Hope is informed by the conviction that the country’s most promising prospects today lie in the quest of its poorest people for social justice and democracy—from the recent Zapatista uprisings in Chiapas to ongoing electoral efforts on the left.

James D. Cockcroft has written and edited many books, including Intellectual Precursors of the Mexican Revolution, 1900-1913 (1968), Mexico (1984) Outlaws in the Promised Land (1986), and Neighbors in Turmoil (1989).