Andrés Manuel López Obrador (a.k.a.AMLO) rode to the presidency in 2018 by promising Mexico "juntos haremos historia" ("together we will make history"). Pundits have fallen over themselves trying to categorize AMLO, refering to him variously as Mexico's Jeremy Corbyn and Mexico's Donald Trump. AMLO's keen sense of his country's history has found expression in his promise to inaugurate the country's "fourth transformation." In doing so, he has positioned himself squarely in the pantheon of Mexican reformers. The phrase is a reference to the march of Mexican politics towards social democracy (after independence in 1810, the liberal reforms of the 1850s, and the Mexican Revolution in the early 1900s).

This month, hosts Lauren Henry and Eric Michael Rhodes speak with two experts on 20th century Mexican history—Drs. Elena Jackson Albarrán and Reyna Esquivel-King—to consider what exactly such a transformation might look like. From AMLO's strategic deployment of history to corruption and the politics of Mexico's "Other Border," we explore in this episode the historical context and contemporary ramifications of Mexico's 2018 election.

To learn more about modern Mexican history, check out these Origins features: Shifting Borders: The Many Sides of U.S.-Mexican Relations; Mexico and the Memory of 1968;A Postcard From Oaxaca, Mexico; A Postcard from Mexico City.

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Posted July 2019

[A transcript of this podcast is available here.]