Visiting Scholars 2017-18: Biographical Sketches

Andrea Pozas-Loyo will work on a book project on authoritarian constitutionalism. She will explore whether and how constitutional provisions are enforced in authoritarian regimes. She will study these questions in the case of Mexico’s 1917 Constitution’s roles and enforcement mechanisms under the authoritarian ruling of the PRI (1929 to 2000). Mexico is a paradigmatic case of “authoritarian constitutionalism”: while the President was the cornerstone of a well-disciplined political party that controlled the three branches of government, he could not transform in an arbitrary fashion every constitutional article. In particular, during this period Article 83, which establishes a six-year non-renewable presidential term, was neither altered nor violated. Why couldn’t presidents with such extraordinary power change Article 83, nor violate it? What were the mechanisms through which this constitutional norm was enforced? Can we claim it as an instance of constitutional efficacy in a nondemocratic regime?

Pozas-Loyo is associate professor at the Institute of Legal Studies (IIJ) at the National University in Mexico (UNAM). Her research topics are constitutionalism, constitutional enforcement, and change. She has been working on the causes and effects of Mexico’s constitutional hyperreformism. Specifically, on the paradox that while it played a key role on the gradual and peaceful transition to democracy, it is now obstructing the consolidation of the rule of law.