Guide to Citizens’ Rights and Responsibilities

B I B L I O G R A P H Y
Amnesty International. “Mauritania: A Future Free from Slavery?” Press release, November 7,
2002.
Ͻhttp://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR380052002? open&of=ENG
MRT
Ͼ.
“Mauritania.” CIA World Factbook. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2005.
Ͻhttp://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/mr.htmlϾ.
Marty, Marianne, “Mauritania: Political Parties, Neo-patrimonialism and Democracy,”
Democratization, vol. 9, no. 3, (autumn 2002):92–108.
Pazzanita, Anthony G., Historical Dictionary of Mauritania. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow
Press, 1996. 
Pazzanita, Anthony G., “Political Transition in Mauritania: Problems and Prospects.”
Middle East Journal, vol. 53, no. 1, (winter 1999):44–58.
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Mauritania:
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 2003.
Ͻhttp://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/29677.htmϾ.
Marianne Marty
G O V E R N M E N T S   O F   T H E   W O R L D
135
M a u r i t a n i a
democratization: a process by which the pow-
ers of government are moved to the people of a
region or to their elected representatives
■ ■ ■  
referendum: a popular vote on legislation,
brought before the people by their elected
leaders or public initiative

Mauritius
The Indian Ocean island state of Mauritius, some 965 kilometers (600
miles) east of Madagascar, is 2,045 square kilometers (790 square miles) in area,
with an ethnically heterogeneous population of 1.2 million. Hindus account
for 52 percent of all Mauritians, with the next largest group, Roman Catholic
Creoles of mixed African and European or Asian ancestry, at 27 percent.
Muslims make up 16 percent of the population, Chinese about 3 percent,
and finally Catholic Franco-Mauritians at 2 percent. English is the official
language, but French is the main spoken and written language. Despite the lack
of a common culture and religion, relative ethnic collaboration and political
stability have existed.
Mauritius is a democratic state based on the 
Westminster
model, with a
unicameral parliament elected every five years by universal adult suffrage,
and the country has a competitive multiparty system. The main island is
divided into twenty three-seat constituencies, and the three
candidates with the most votes in each constituency win.
Another two seats are allocated to the smaller island of
Rodrigues. In addition, upwards of eight additional seats are
allocated to so-called best losers, defeated candidates in the
multiseat electoral districts, by ethnic and religious affiliation,
in order to correct any imbalance in the representation of the
various communities. The president is head of state, but con-
stitutional power is vested in a prime minister and cabinet.
A six-person Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority.
Civil liberties remain fairly secure and the rule of law prevails.
The Mauritian Labour Party (LP) was formed in 1936
and its leader, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (1900–1985), a
Hindu, became the first prime minister of an independent
Mauritius in 1968. Soon afterwards Paul Bérenger (b. 1945)
helped found the Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM).
Ramgoolam governed until 1982, when he lost to an alliance
of the MMM and a breakaway from the LP formed by Anerood
Jugnauth (b. 1930). Jugnauth, who became prime minister,
would rule until 1995, forming his own party, the Mouvement
Socialist Mauricien (MSM). In 1995 Jugnauth went down to
defeat to an LP-MMM alliance, headed by Navin Ramgoolam
(b. 1947), the son of Sir Seewoosagur. In mid-1997 the MMM
severed its connection with the coalition, leaving Ramgoolam
to govern alone.
In the 2000 election the main contenders were two elec-
toral blocs: the ruling LP and its ally, the Parti Mauricien
Xavier Duval (PMXD) faced off against an MSM-MMM alliance.
Reflecting the ethnic balance of power, both coalitions were
led by Hindu politicians. Ramgoolam was challenged by
Jugnauth, whereas two Franco-Mauritians, Xavier-Luc Duval of
the PMXD and Bérenger of the MMM, played the role of “jun-
ior partners.”
The MSM-MMM carried fifty-four of the directly elected
parliamentary seats. When another eight “best loser” seats
were distributed, the MSM-MMM gained four, for a final total of
fifty-eight, and the LP-PMXD an additional two, bringing up
their number to eight.
136
G O V E R N M E N T S   O F   T H E   W O R L D
M a u r i t i u s
Westminster: a democratic model of govern-
ment comprising operational procedures for a
legislative body, based on the system used in
the United Kingdom
■ ■ ■  
reefs
reefs
Petite Rivière
Noire Pk.
2,717 ft.
828 m.
Pointe
Sud
Ouest
Point
Petite Rivière
Plaines
Wilhems
Cannoniers
Point
M O K A R A N
G E
GRAND PORT RANGE
BLAC
K R
IVE
R R
AN
GE
Citrons
Pos
t e d
e F
la
cq
Grand
South East
T
a
ba
c
Gran
d
N
oire
I N D I A N
      O C E A N
Baie de la 
Grand Rivière
Baie de la 
Grand
Rivière Noire
M o k a
Flat
Gabriel
Gunner's
Quoin
Île D'Ambre
Île aux 
Cerfs
Île aux 
Fouquets
Île de 
la Passe
Île aux
Bénitiers
Serpent
Round
Triolet
Pamplemousses
Goodlands
Poudre d'Or
Rivière du Rempart
Centre
de Flacq
Bel Air
Mahebourg
Rose Belle
Chemin
Grenier
Souillac
Baie du
Cap
Phoenix
Tamarin
Beau Bassin
Bambous
Quatre
Bornes
Vacoas
Curepipe
Port
Louis
MAURITIUS
Rodrigues
Agelega
St Brandon Group
(Cargados Carajos
Shoals)
Mauritius
W
S
N
E
MAURITIUS
5
0
10
15 Miles
0
15 Kilometers
5
10
(MAP BY MARYLAND CARTOGRAPHICS/ THE GALE GROUP)

The two opposition leaders had agreed that they would take turns as
prime minister, with Jugnauth governing until 2003, followed by Bérenger,
who thus became the first non-Hindu prime minister.
Tourism, the sugar industry, and manufactured goods from factories are the
country’s main sources of income. The gross domestic product in 2003 stood at
U.S. $5.5 billion, or over $4,484 per capita.
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
Bowman, Larry W. Mauritius: Democracy and Development in the Indian Ocean.
Boulder, CO: Westview, 1991.
Dommen, Edward, and Bridget Dommen. Mauritius: An Island of Success. Oxford, UK:
James Currey, 1999.
Dubey, Ajay. Government and Politics in Mauritius. Delhi, India: Kalinga Publications, 1997.
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. Common Denominators: Ethnicity, Nation-Building and
Compromise in Mauritius. New York: University Press, 1998.
Jackson, Ashley. War and Empire in Mauritius and the Indian Ocean. London: Palgrave,
2001.
Srebrnik, Henry. “Can an Ethnically-Based Civil Society Succeed? The Case of Mauritius.”
Journal of Contemporary African Studies 18, no. 1 (2000):7–20.
Srebrnik, Henry. “‘Full of Sound and Fury’: Three Decades of Parliamentary Politics in
Mauritius.” Journal of Southern African Studies 28, no. 2 (2002):277–289.
Henry F. Srebrnik
Mexico
Mexico is a country of approximately 1,972,550 square kilometers (764,000
square miles, almost three times the state of Texas) located in North America.
It shares a 3,141-kilometer (2,000-mile) border with the United States and south-
ern borders with Guatemala and Belize. Geographically, Mexico is very diverse,
with two large mountain ranges, active volcanoes, and high plateaus, in addition
to several freshwater lakes, arid desserts, low coastal plains, jungles, and rain
forests. Mexico’s population of approximately 105 million is as diverse as its
geography. Roughly 60 percent of Mexicans are mestizos of mixed European and
Amerindian heritage. Thirty percent of the population is from one of the coun-
try’s nearly sixty different indigenous groups. The remaining 10 percent is
made up principally of people of European descent, with smaller numbers from
Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
Spanish is the official language of Mexico, although Mayan dialects and Náhuatl
are commonly used in indigenous communities. In 2003 the vast majority of
Mexicans (89%) identified themselves as Roman Catholic. Life expectancy in
Mexico was sixty-nine years for men and seventy-six years for women. The median
age was 23.8 years. Although 92 percent of all adults were literate, 53.1 percent of
Mexicans fifteen years and older had less than an eighth-grade education. 
Mexico is a 
federal
republic with thirty-one states and a federal district
(Distrito Federal), which is home to Mexico City, the nation’s capital. The consti-
tution establishes a presidential system with three branches of central govern-
ment: the executive, a bicameral legislature, and the judiciary. Formally, each
branch has the ability to check and balance the activities of the others. In addition,
G O V E R N M E N T S   O F   T H E   W O R L D
137
M e x i c o
federalism: a system of political organiza-
tion, in which a separate states or groups are
ruled by a dominant central authority on
some matters, but are otherwise permitted to
govern themselves independently
■ ■ ■  

there are three levels of government: central (federal), state, and local (munici-
pal). State and local governments have constitutionally granted powers. On paper,
the Mexican government looks very much like that of the United States, but for
most of the twentieth century it functioned quite differently because the presi-
dent and a single political party dominated nearly all aspects of political life.
E A R LY   H I S T O R Y
Mexico began as the Spanish colony of New Spain. However, before the
arrival of Spanish explorers, Mexico was home to several indigenous civilizations
including the Olmec (800–400 
B
.
C
.
E
.), Monte Alban (250 
B
.
C
.
E
.–
C
.
E
. 900),
Teotihuacan (100–600), Maya (325–925), Mixtec (900–1300), Toltec (900–1300),
and the Aztec or Mexica, who reigned from 1325 until the arrival of Hernándo
Cortés (c. 1485–1547) in 1519. Cortés landed with several hundred men in
search of gold, silver, and other riches for the Spanish Crown. Despite the fact
that Cortés and his men were outnumbered at least 1,000 to 1, the Spaniards
were able to defeat the Aztecs because they possessed superior weaponry and
brought with them smallpox, typhoid, and measles that decimated the indige-
nous populations who had no immunity to such diseases.
Mexico’s colonial period, which would last until 1810, was characterized by
the imposition of Spanish institutions and customs. Indigenous groups were
not permitted to carry on their native political, social, and religious practices.
They were forced to accept Spanish rule and convert to Christianity by the
Roman Catholic Church. The government was established as an extension of the
Spanish Crown. Local 
viceroys
were the highest political authority, although they
were directly accountable to the Spanish monarchs. Society was highly strati-
fied, with the vast majority of wealth and power controlled by the relatively
small group of European-born elite ( peninsulares). Mexican-born individuals of
direct European ancestry (criollos) occupied upper-middle-strata jobs (working
as government bureaucrats, lawyers, bankers, merchants, etc.). Mestizos had
138
G O V E R N M E N T S   O F   T H E   W O R L D
M e x i c o
viceroy: one who governs a territory as the
representative of the monarch
■ ■ ■  
Pico de Orizaba
18,856 ft.
5747 m.
Isla
Cedros
Eugenia
Punta
Cabo Falso
B
A
JA
C
A
L
IF
O
R
N
IA
SI
ER
R
A
M
A
D
R
E
O
C
C
ID
EN
TA
L
S
IE
R
R
A
M
A
D
R
E
O
R
IE
N
T
A
L
S IE
R RA
M ADRE
D EL SUR
Isthmus
of
Tehuantepec
Yucatán
Peninsula
Chichén
Itzá
Islas Marías.
Islas Revillagigedo
Isla de
Cozumel
R
io
G
ra
n
de
Y
a
q
u
i
C
o
n
ch
os
Balsas
(R
ío
B
ra
vo
)
G
u
lf
o
d
e
C
a
li
fo
rn
ia
G u l f   o f   M e x i c o
PACIFIC
OCEAN
Bahía de
Campeche
Gulfo de
Tehuantepec
Cancún
Matamoros
La Paz
Querétaró
Toluca
Villahermosa
Tuxtla Gutiérrez
Mexicali
Culiacán
San Luis
Potosí
Torreón
Tampico
San Antonio
Veracruz
Morelia
Irapuato
Nogales
Tuscon
Loreto
San Lucas
Puerto Peñasco
Navojoa
Hidalgo
del Parral
Los
Mochis
Concepción
del Oro
Freznillo
Ciudad Madero
Poza Rica
de Hidalgo
Tecomán
Lázaro Cárdenas
Iguala
Puerto Escondido
Salina Cruz
Ciudad
del Carmen
Mazatlán
Tijuana
Ciudad
Juárez
Mérida
Chihuahua
Acapulco
Puebla
Monterrey
Guadalajara
Mexico City
U N I T E D   S T A T E S
GUATEMALA
BELIZE
HONDURAS
W
S
N
E
Mexico
MEXICO
500 Miles
0
0
500 Kilometers
250
250
(MAP BY MARYLAND CARTOGRAPHICS/ THE GALE GROUP)

some social mobility, but most remained at the bottom of the social pyramid
along with the indigenous and African peasants and slaves.
Over time tight control by the Spanish government caused resentments in
the colony. In particular, the peninsulares grew weary of wielding limited power
and raising revenue for the Crown rather than for themselves. The criollos
resented their lack of access to positions of economic and political power,
which were overwhelmingly controlled by the peninsulares. Meanwhile the
mestizos and indigenous people became increasingly frustrated over their low
social status and mistreatment at the hands of the ruling classes. These resent-
ments, combined with the weakened power of the Spanish monarchs, created
the motivation for an independence movement. After eleven years of struggle
(1810–1821), Mexico won its independence from Spain. Once independent,
Mexico endured several years of political and economic turmoil. There was no
national consensus about who should lead or what form of government should
be adopted. Between 1821 and 1857, over fifty separate governments ruled.
It was during this time that Mexico and the United States went to war over the
status of Texas, which had already won a tenuous independence a decade
earlier. In 1848 the dispute was settled in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,
which
ceded
over a third of Mexico’s territory (including what is now California,
Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas) to the United States.
The 1850s ushered in a new era in Mexican political life. Known as La
Reforma, or the reform, the period between 1855 and 1876 was characterized
by political competition between two elite groups, the Liberals, who favored
republican government and a clear separation between church and state, and
the Conservatives, who favored more 
authoritarian
forms of government and
maintaining the political and economic rights of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Liberals, led by Benito Juárez (1806–1872), a Zapotec Indian from the state
of Oaxaca, dominated political life for twenty years and were instrumental in
expanding political rights beyond the elite classes. They drafted Mexico’s first
constitution in 1857, which established a republican government with a presi-
dential system.
The Liberal 
regime
was not without it detractors. Upset by the repeated
re-election of Juárez, challengers began to call for term limits and political
change. One such challenger, General Porfirio Díaz (1830–1915), organized
an armed revolt to seize power and began what would essentially be a thirty-
five-year term of office known as the Porfiriato.
The Porfiriato (1876–1911) was notable for some important economic and
political accomplishments. Under Díaz, Mexico was opened to massive amounts
of foreign investment, which was instrumental in developing the country’s agri-
culture, mining exports, and 
infrastructure
. Politically, the Díaz regime was able
to maintain political stability by using military force to ensure that potential
detractors did not have 
recourse
to challenge his power. Nevertheless, Díaz’s
dictatorial form of rule created resentments that would come back to haunt
him. Within the elite, there were many who believed that his government
favored foreign interests over domestic priorities. Many in the middle class felt
excluded by a regime and economic model that provided them with few oppor-
tunities to get ahead. Among the peasantry, thousands had been forced from
their traditional lands by large foreign-owned companies and had few alterna-
tives but to work for the new landowners under miserable conditions.
These resentments coalesced around the 1910 presidential election in
which a member of the northern elite, Francisco Madero (1873–1913), tried
to unseat Díaz. Rather than accept the possibility of being voted out of office,
Díaz had Madero thrown in jail. This action sparked uprisings throughout the
G O V E R N M E N T S   O F   T H E   W O R L D
139
M e x i c o
cede: to relinquish political control of lands to
another country; surrender
■ ■ ■  
authoritarianism: the domination of the
state or its leader over individuals
regime: a type of government, or, the
government in power in a region
infrastructure: the base on which a system
or organization is built
recourse: a resource for assistance

country and set off the Mexican Revolution (1910–1916). United in their effort
to remove Díaz from power, various revolutionary leaders succeeded in forcing
the dictator into exile. But with their immediate goal achieved, the leaders
found it difficult to agree on what should happen next. Elite leaders such as
Madero, Venustiano Carranza (1859–1920), and Alvaro Obregón (1880–1928)
wanted limited democracy, whereas peasant leaders such as Francisco (Pancho)
Villa (1878–1923) and Emiliano Zapata (c. 1879–1919) were more concerned
about the political and economic inclusion of the working and peasant classes.
In the end, the elite groups carried the day and set about institutionalizing their
goals in the Constitution of 1917. This marked the beginning of the modern
Mexican political system.
P O S T R E V O LU T I O N A R Y   P E R I O D
The 1920s and 1930s were a time of regime consolidation. Most members of
the elite class had finally reached a consensus that Mexico’s political future
should be characterized by political parties and elections, rather than by the use
of violence and strong-arm tactics. Leaders such as Plutarco Elías Calles
(1877–1945) and Lázaro Cárdenas (1895–1970) 
centralized
power in the hands of
the president and made it a priority to unite the nation’s most influential inter-
est groups (e.g., organized labor, the military, and the peasantry) with the elites
in a single political party. The organization of what would become the country’s
most dominant party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), gave groups
that formerly had little influence a direct line to the highest levels of government
in exchange for their unconditional support for the president and the party.
The Mexican model of bringing together disparate interests under the
umbrella of the PRI proved to be one of the secrets of the regime’s stability from
the 1930s until the late 1980s. Most of the groups incorporated in the party were
satisfied because membership and recognition gave them access to resources
like jobs, housing, and health benefits that otherwise would not have been forth-
coming. The party and the government benefited from this 
hierarchical
arrange-
ment because PRI leaders determined which groups would be given official
recognition and which would be excluded. Also very important to the regime’s
success and stability were consistent economic growth, which provided the
resources to give supporters, and the use of electoral fraud to ensure that the PRI
140