Erika Pani

Misión imposible: la construcción de la representación política en México, siglo XIX

In Mexico, as throughout much of the Atlantic world, after independence the principle of the sovereignty of the ‘Nation’—or of ‘the People’—became the unsteady basis of political legitimacy. In this context, representing the sovereign entity—giving it voice, articulating its will and translating it through institutional channels—became an inescapable, contentious and always open-ended challenge for those seeking to consolidate the new State. This article traces the transformation of the concepts and practices of political representation in Mexico throughout the nineteenth century.