Citizenship, Indigenous Autonomy

This study examines the impact of the legalization §of an indigenous model of municipal government known §as usos y costumbres on the political system of §Oaxaca, a predominantly rural state in southern §Mexico. Since 1995, 418 of Oaxaca s 570 §municipalities, accounting for 36% of the state s §population, legally elect their municipal §authorities through community assemblies, in which §voting is open and public, and the suffrage is §limited active participants in the social and §political life of the community (typically, able-§bodied adult males). Using elite interviews, census §data and electoral data, this study examines how the §legalization of usos y costumbres has affected §citizenship, partisanship, and electoral behaviour §in state and local politics in Oaxaca. As Oaxaca is §the only Latin American polity that recognizes §indigenous municipal autonomy, it provides useful §insight into understanding the extent to which §indigenous peoples' demands for greater local §autonomy are compatible with democratization in the §region. As such, this study may be useful to those §interested in indigenous rights, citizenship, §multiculturalism and democracy.