Contenu du sommaire : L'administration au Mexique

The Genesis and Evolution of Mexican Federal Administration. From its independence in 1821 until today there has been a considerable increase in the size of the executive in Mexico. While initially there were only four ministries, there are now nineteen supported by numerous secretaries of state. Today the federal administration in Mexico is organised according to central structures which are adjuncts to the state. These central structures are orientated around the President of the Republic, head of the executive, who carries out his activities with the assistance of a number of organs designed exclusively to help facilitate decision-making and with the aid of ail the ministries and secretaries of state.

The Modernisation History, Assessment and Prospects. The modernisation process of Mexican public administration is framed within a five-year programme running from 1995-2000. Before the introduction of this systematic programme a number of careful but limited actions had been undertaken which did not bring about coherent reform across the whole territory. The program entitled ‘The Modernisation of Public Administration 1995-2000' has enabled clear objectives for action to be established and has put into place the necessary structures for carrying out the concrete action plans decided upon by each part of the administration be it at the federal, state or local level. This initial exercise has allowed for further development and amplification of the modernisation movement making use of concrete data and pursuing objectives such as decentralisation and deconcentration, professionalisation, citizen involvement and transparency in purchasing and recruitment procedures.

The Mexican Administration at the Start of the New Millenium. Mexico has entered into an era of important administrative reforms. The reforms that have been undertaken were preceded by attempts whose results were insignificant. These attempts were based upon schemes which were imported from elsewhere, constructed according to foreign models and were badly adapted to the particular features of the administration in Mexico. Future reforms of Mexican administration must take account of its particularities. No theoretical choice has been advanced for the reform of the administration in Mexico, but a comparison of its recent evolution with principles of ‘new public management' provides a useful source of instruction. Whatever the virtues of new public management, the debate in Mexico must not be oriented around the pros and cons of a reduction in the role of the state, but rather should address the means by which the state's efficiency can be improved.

Governability : a Long-Held Aspiration and Some New Approaches. In this day and age most political-administrative systems are undergoing a severe crisis in governability. Experimental reforms have had mixed results. The future is, therefore, very uncertain following many aborted attempts at reform such as, in Mexico, the desire to establish a career civil service. There are two series of reasons, political and administrative, which explain the crisis in governability. At the political level : an absence of legitimacy, a lack of credibility and an insufficient involvement of citizens within the system ; at the administrative level : a lack of efficacy, efficiency and effectiveness within the governmental apparatus. The preferred means for overcoming this serious crisis of governability should be the quest for a truly democratic form of government.

The Career Civil Service. The establishment of a career civil service remains an important objective for public administration in Mexico. An improvement in the quality of public service and the possibility of long-term planning are the principal desired effects. An examination of experiments undertaken since the 1920s shows the difficulties associated with the introduction of a career public service even one which is sectorial. While some progress has been made in the last few years there remains a lot left to do.

New Strategies for Human Resources Management in the Public Sector. The Mexican government has placed civil servants at the centre of its reform of the administration. The primary objective is to revalue the work of the civil service, taking into account the aspirations and the personal competences of each civil servant. This reevaluation will encourage professionalisation, including an improvement in recruitment procedures, the introduction of a career structure, and continuing education which is personalised thanks to new information technologies and new forms of communication. Professionalisation, which is an irreversible phenomenon, must depend upon the involvement of civil servants themselves, but also upon those in positions of management and upon each and every citizen.

To What Extent is New Public Management Applicable in Mexico ? A series of proposals put to two groups of public managers, one Mexican and the other Canadian, had as its object the realisation of a comparative study of the perception of public management and the role of the public manager in each country. Following on from this comparison it is possible to ascertain certain characteristics of the Mexican approach to public management. This particular approach has a direct influence upon the style of administrative reform that can be undertaken. Public managers in Mexico appear very attached to formalism and to hierarchical relationships which could be an obstacle to putting into place a new style of public management based upon flexibility and the desire for efficiency.

The Fight Against Civil Servants Corruption. The fight against corruption is a very topical debate in Mexico and numerous mechanisms have been introduced in an attempt to clean-up the Mexican civil service. Civil servants and those in positions of political responsibility are accountable on five fronts : administrative, social, political, civil and criminal. The law, which in this area is extensive, is applied by specialist bodies whose functioning has been reformed in order to render the system more effective. The defeat of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, brought about by political alternance, will require collaboration between civil servants and politicians of different parties in order to sustain and further develop the large clean-up operation already in place.

Recent Evolutions in the Administration of Justice. Reform of the legal system is a fundamental aspect of state reform because it touches directly upon the fundamental rights of citizens. Due to the federal nature of the country, the justice system in Mexico operates on two levels, the federal level and the level of the federated states. Moreover, numerous courts exercise particular competences in certain areas such as judicial review of administrative action, agrarian law, juveniles and electoral law. In the past few years each of these areas has undergone reforms of differing degrees of importance. Finally, the most recent notable development of the justice system in Mexico has been the country's acceptance of the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Political Parties and the Future of the Hydraulic System of Mexico City's Metropolitan Zone. Management of Mexico City's hydraulic system implies taking into account simultaneously both short-term needs and the necessity of sustainable development. These two objectives are, however, contradictory. Significant areas of the federal district of Mexico are only partially, or not at all, connected to the water and sanitation networks. Yet, at the same time, overuse of water resources has extremely serious consequences. Political parties have traditionally privileged short-term considerations, especially at election time. They do, however, have an important role to play through the education of their supporters and personnel and through the reflections they may bring to bear upon debates concerning urban development in the decades to come.

Political Reform of the State. Political reform of the state is framed within a dialectic relationship between continuity and change. The objective of political reform is to continue to improve the quality of life of our fellow citizens through the improvement of democratic processes. The foundations of the Mexican state cannot be, nor ought they to be, called into question, especially its republican tradition and its federalist structure. Democratic processes must, however, be adapted in order to ensure a better balance of powers, a modernised federalism, greater pluralism through the neutrality of, and equality of access to, the media, integration of indigenous communities and greater citizen participation.

Public Administration and Plural Societies in Africa Reflections upon the Interaction between State and Society – the Example of the Cameroon. The Cameroon is characterised by social pluralism which results from tribal communitarianism and from its four periods of colonisation. It has, however, inherited a form of administration which tends towards the Weberian model, which has been inherited precisely from its colonial past. Consequently, the structure of the administration is influenced by a pluralist society and the administration tries to regulate this society. The interaction between pluralism and the unified administrative model has given rise to a form of administration which is distinct to the Cameroon. In particular, the administration, with its deployment throughout the territory, contributes towards a balanced distribution of power and the easing of social conflicts.