Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• List of Presidents of Mexico, 1924-2006
• Introduction: The Politicians' Testimony
• Chapter 1: Politics at the Heart of the State
• Chapter 2: The Strange Mexican State
• Chapter 3: Did Structural Economic Failure Cause the Crises?
• Chapter 4: The Macroeconomics of Elite Conflict
• Chapter 5: The Crises That Didn't Happen
• Chapter 6: The Unwritten Rules
• Chapter 7: The End of Stability
• Chapter 8: Struggle
• Chapter 9: Schism
• Chapter 10: The Inevitability of Elite Politics
• Appendix A: Mexican Fiscal Data
• Appendix B: The Pre-Electoral Spending Cycle
• Notes
• Interview List
• Bibliography
• Index

Promotional Information

Drawing on candid interviews with former Mexican officials, a journalist reveals the inside story of the "perfect dictatorship" they once ran

About the Author

Jonathan Schlefer holds a Ph.D. in political science from MIT, where he served as editor-in-chief of Technology Review. Now a freelance writer who has written for a number of publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Atlantic, he lives in Boston.