Mexican Government Essay, Research Paper

Type of Government

The Mexican type of government is a presidential federal republic. The government has a president and a cabinet. It also has a bicameral legislature, and a judiciary. The government has the three traditional branches that the United States has- the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches. The executive branch makes most of the policy making. The judiciary branches, does however have the right to use judicial review.

The executive branch is lead b the president. The president can be elected to a six year term, but cannot under any circumstances, run for re-election. They must be at least thirty-five years old, born in Mexico, and their parents must be Mexican by birth. The president is the dominating authority in the government with close to absolute power.

The legislative branch is two branches of government of deputies, and senators. There are sixty-four senators are directly elected. Two are from each state and the federal district. The chamber of deputies is composed of about 300 members elected by relative majority.

The judiciary branch is basically the supreme court. There are twenty-one justices. The president appoints them and the upper house approves them. They must be of Mexican birth. They must be between thirty-five and sixty-five years old. They must have held a professional law degree for five years.

The Mexican constitution was adopted in 1917. Previous versions of the Mexican constitution were drafted or proposed, and one laid out the basic structure (1857). This was during conflict and social upheaval in the nation. The Mexican constitution was influenced by both Spanish law, and the United States constitution.

The most striking statements of the constitution are that there is freedom of religion but that another article negates any idea of separation of church and state. Also, it says that anyone arrested is guilty until proven innocent, the opposite of that in the United States. Like the constitution of the U.S. however, there are certain guaranteed freedoms. Some of these are: the right to expression, the right to information, freedom of writing and publishing, the right to petition peacefully, the right of assembly, the right to bear arms, and many others.

The constitution of Mexico is a lot like ours because it contains many of the same freedoms. It is probably similar because the Mexican constitution was highly influenced, and based on that of the United States. However, some parts are different. Such as all people are guilty until proven innocent, whereas in the United States all people are innocent until proven guilty.

The political structure is that like the U.S. which is centered around three traditional branches of government. These three branches are the president, the legislature, and the courts. Policy making is handled by the executive branch. Although the government is supposed to have the same power as the states, like in the U.S., the Mexican government actually has much more power than the states.