Abstract

VAZQUEZ ALMANZA, Paola Patricia. The Theoretical Transition to Democracy. Sociology and Political Science in Mexico, 1990-2000. Revista Col. San Luis [online]. 2022, vol.12, n.23, 00023.  Epub May 27, 2024. ISSN 2007-8846.  https://doi.org/10.21696/rcsl122320221412.

The purpose of this article is to discuss the transformation of Sociology and Political Science in Mexico during the 1990s and the embrace of the transition paradigm. To this end, two sets of key phenomena are analyzed. The first set focuses on: 1) the transformations of international social science in the late 80s and 2) the evolution of American Political Science. The second examines three dimensions of the Mexican Sociology and Political Science: 1) its history, highlighting the lack of theoretical production and its link with the State; 2) the blurred border between public and academic sphere and 3) the weaknesses of the academic translation of the democratic paradigm during the 90s. The conclusion reached is that there is an ideological, normative, and conceptual imbalance that is still being reproduced in the current study of political processes. This article is an invitation to debate the paradoxes of democratic theory.

Keywords : democratic theory; transition to democracy; conceptual history; metatheory; social sciences in Mexico.