 |
|---|
 Mexico portal |
Mexico is afederal republic composed of 32 federative entities (Spanish:entidades federativas): 31 states andMexico City.[1] According to theConstitution of Mexico, the states of the federation are free andsovereign in all matters concerning their internal affairs.[2] Since 2016, Mexico City has been a fully autonomous entity on par with the states. Each state federative entity has its own congress and constitution.
The current structural hierarchy of Mexican administrative divisions are outlined byConstitution of Mexico[3] as well as the constitutions and laws of federative entities. The laws together established the following levels of administrative divisions. The levels inbold are those regulated by the federal constitution.(Spanish language equivalents are italicized in parentheses.)
TheConstitution of Mexico states the country constitutes 31 states (Article 43) andMexico City (Article 44). As of March 2024, there are 2,460municipalities under the 31 states, adding the 16boroughs of Mexico City to constitute 2476 territorial units with local autonomy.[4]
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(October 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
There are currently 32 federative entities (Spanish:entidades federativas) ofMexico.
| Mexican State Estado Mexicano (Spanish) | |
|---|---|
| |
 | |
| Category | Federated state |
| Location | Mexico |
| Number | 31 |
| Populations | Smallest 759,000 (Baja California Sur) Largest 17,102,000 (México) |
| Areas | Smallest 4,000 km2 (1,543 sq mi) (Tlaxcala) Largest 247,460 km2 (95,543 sq mi) (Chihuahua) |
| Government | |
| Subdivisions | |
The states (Spanish:estados) of the Mexican Federation are officially free, sovereign, autonomous and independent of each other. They are free to govern themselves according to their own laws; each state has a constitution. States may not contradict the federal constitution, which covers issues of national competence. Nor may theyally with other states or any independent nation except with the consent of the whole federation, or in defense and security arrangements necessary to keep the border states secure during an invasion.
The political organization of each state is based on a separation of powers in a congressional system:legislative power is vested in a unicameral congress (the federal congress has two chambers),executive power is independent of the legislature and vested in a governor elected byuniversal suffrage, andjudicial power is vested in aSuperior Court of Justice. Since the states have legal autonomy, each has its own civil and penal codes and judicial body.
| Mexico City Ciudad de México (Spanish) | |
|---|---|
| |
_in_Mexico_(zoom).svg) | |
| Category | Capital city |
| Location | Mexico |
| Number | 1 |
| Populations | 9,305,000 |
| Areas | 1,480 km2 (573 sq mi) |
| Government |
|
| Subdivisions | |
Mexico City (Spanish:Ciudad de México) is the capital of the United Mexican States. Before January 2016, the city was officially named the Federal District (Spanish:Distrito Federal).
Mexico City was separated from theState of Mexico, of which it was the capital, on November 18, 1824, to become the capital of the federation. As such, it belonged not to any state in particular but to all of them and to the federation. Therefore, thepresident of Mexico, who represented the federation, designated itshead of government, previously referred to as the regent (regente) or head of department (jefe del departamento). However, the Federal District received more autonomy in 1997, and its citizens were then able to elect their chief of government for the first time.
In 2016, the Mexican Congress approved a constitutional reform eliminating the federal district and establishing Mexico City as a fully autonomous entity on par with the states.[5][6] However, unlike the other states of the Union, it would receive funds for education and health. When full autonomy was granted, Mexico City adopted its own constitution (it previously had only anorganic law, theStatute of Autonomy) and its boroughs expanded their local government powers.[7]
| Federative entity | Conventional abbreviation | 2-letter code* | 3-letter code (ISO 3166-2:MX) | Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Aguascalientes | Ags. | AG | MX-AGU | North-Central |
 Baja California | B.C. | BC, BJ, BN | MX-BCN | Northwest |
 Baja California Sur | B.C.S. | BS | MX-BCS | Northwest |
 Campeche | Camp. | CM, CP | MX-CAM | Southeast |
 Chiapas | Chis. | CH, CS | MX-CHP | Southwest |
 Chihuahua | Chih. | CH, CI | MX-CHH | Northwest |
 Coahuila | Coah. | CH, CO, CU | MX-COA | Northeast |
 Colima | Col. | CL | MX-COL | West |
 Mexico City | CDMX | DF | MX-CMX | South-Central |
 Durango | Dgo. | DG | MX-DUR | Northwest |
 Guanajuato | Gto. | GJ, GT | MX-GUA | North-Central |
 Guerrero | Gro. | GE, GR | MX-GRO | Southwest |
 Hidalgo | Hgo. | HD, HG | MX-HID | East |
 Jalisco | Jal. | JA | MX-JAL | West |
 México | Edomex.or Méx. | EM, MX | MX-MEX | South-Central |
 Michoacán | Mich. | MC, MH, MI | MX-MIC | West |
 Morelos | Mor. | MO, MR | MX-MOR | South-Central |
 Nayarit | Nay. | NA | MX-NAY | West |
 Nuevo León | N.L. | NL | MX-NLE | Northeast |
 Oaxaca | Oax. | OA | MX-OAX | Southwest |
 Puebla | Pue. | PU | MX-PUE | East |
 Querétaro | Qro. | QA, QE, QT | MX-QUE | North-Central |
 Quintana Roo | Q. Roo.or Q.R. | QI, QR | MX-ROO | Southeast |
 San Luis Potosí | S.L.P. | SL | MX-SLP | North-Central |
 Sinaloa | Sin. | SI | MX-SIN | Northwest |
 Sonora | Son. | SO | MX-SON | Northwest |
 Tabasco | Tab. | TA, TB | MX-TAB | Southeast |
 Tamaulipas | Tamps. | TA, TM | MX-TAM | Northeast |
 Tlaxcala | Tlax. | TL | MX-TLA | East |
 Veracruz | Ver. | VC, VE, VL, VZ | MX-VER | East |
 Yucatán | Yuc. | YC, YU | MX-YUC | Southeast |
 Zacatecas | Zac. | ZA, ZT | MX-ZAC | North-Central |
*Mexico's post agency,Correos de México, does not offer an official list. Various competing commercially devised lists exist. The list here reflects choices among them according tothese sources.
In theCongress of the Union, theSenate represents the federative entities. Each federative entity elects three senators. Two are elected by universal suffrage on the principle of relative majority and one is assigned to the party that obtains the largest minority. In addition, the federation elects 32at-large senators byproportional representation. These make a total of 128 Senators.
The intrastate region (Spanish:región) or district (Spanish:distrito) are not constitutional administrative division levels. However, some states with higher numbers ofmunicipalities establish such regions to support the administration.
Intrastate regions exist in the following 11 states:
According to theConstitution of Mexico, the states are internally divided intomunicipalities (Spanish:municipios), Mexico City is divided intoboroughs (Spanish:demarcaciones territoriales). The autonomy of municipalities and boroughs within federative entities are protected by theConstitution of Mexico.
Eachmunicipality is autonomous in its ability to elect its own administration. A council is headed by amunicipal president (Spanish:presidente municipal) who is elected every three years. Each municipality has a council (Spanish:ayuntamiento) composed of councilors in terms of population size. In most cases, the council is responsible for providing all utilities required for its population. This concept, which arises from theMexican Revolution, is known as a "free municipality".
Theboroughs of Mexico City are colloquially known asalcaldías inSpanish, these boroughs kept the same territory and name as the formerdelegaciones.[8] A borough is headed by a borough mayor (Spanish:alcalde) who is elected every three years.
As of March 2024, there are 2,460 municipalities in the 31 states of Mexico.[9] The state with the highest number of municipalities isOaxaca, with 570, and the state with the lowest number isBaja California Sur, with only five.[10] There are 16 boroughs in Mexico City. These sums up to 2,476 division units.
The divisions of municipalities and boroughs are regulated solely by constitutions and laws of the respective federative entities. This level of divisions are collectively calledlocalities (Spanish:localidades) by theNational Institute of Statistics and Geography (Spanish:Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, INEGI) of thefederal government.
Among the states,settlement classification schemes vary. Common types oflocalities include:
Some larger cities are consolidated with its own municipality and form a single level governance. In some cases, cities are further divided intodelegaciones orcolonias.
Mexico City further divides itsboroughs intoneighborhoods (Spanish:colonias).
.svg)
On September 27, 1821, after three centuries of Spanish rule,Mexico gained independence. TheTreaty of Córdoba recognized part of theViceroyalty of New Spain as an Independent Empire – "monarchist, constitutional and moderate".[11] The new country named itself theMexican Empire. The morning after theArmy of the Three Guarantees enteredMexico City on September 28, 1821,Agustín de Iturbide ordered the Supreme Provisional Governmental Junta (September 1821 – February 1822) to meet to elect a president of the Imperial Regency and to issue a declaration of independence for the new nation. Iturbide was elected president of the Regency, and that afternoon the members of the Regency and the Supreme Junta signed the Declaration.
A minority of the Constituent Congress, looking for stability, electedAgustín de Iturbide as emperor. On July 21, 1822, Iturbide was crowned Emperor of Mexico.[12] However, theConstitutional Empire quickly demonstrated the incompatibility of its two main parts: the Emperor and the Constituent Congress. The deputies were imprisoned just for expressing their opinions, and eventually Iturbide decided to dissolve the Congress and instead establish a National Board.[13]
The lack of a legitimate legislature, the illegitimacy of the Emperor, and the absence of real solutions to the nation's problems increased revolutionary activity.[14]Antonio López de Santa Anna proclaimed thePlan of Casa Mata, to which later joinedVicente Guerrero andNicolás Bravo. Iturbide was forced to reestablish the Congress and, in a vain attempt to save the order and keep the situation favorable to his supporters, he abdicated the crown of the empire on March 19, 1823.[15]
Congress nullified the designation of Iturbide and therefore the recognition of the abdication. It deemed the coronation of Iturbide to have been a logical mistake in consummation of Independence.[15] The dissolution of the Empire was the first political realignment of independent Mexico.
.svg)
After the fall of the Empire, atriumvirate called theSupreme Executive Power was created. The provisional government created theFederal Republic, and it was in effect from April 1, 1823, to October 10, 1824.[16]
Unrest in the provinces was widespread. On May 21, 1823,The Founding Plan of the Federal Republic was enacted. Its sixth article stated, "The component parts of the Republic are free, sovereign and independent States in that which touches internal administration and government".[17] Most of theFree States, which were invited to form theFederal Republic, joined the Union, except for thefive Central American provinces, the formerCaptaincy General of Guatemala, which formed their ownFederal Republic.[18]
On January 31, 1824, the decree to create aConstitutive Act of the Mexican Federation was issued, which incorporated the basic structure of the Federal Republic. It was determined that the criteria for inviting states to the federation should be that they "...not be so few that through expansion and wealth in a few years they be able to aspire to constitute themselves as independent nations, breaking the federal bond, nor so many that through lack of manpower and resources the system should come to be unworkable."[19]
Between 1823 and 1824, some of theFree States created their own constitutions, and others had already installed a Constituent Congress. Special cases were those ofYucatán, which on December 23, 1823, decided to join the federation but as a Federated Republic, andChiapas, which decided by referendum to join the federation on September 14, 1824.[20]
On October 4, 1824, theFederal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1824 was enacted. The constitution officially created theUnited Mexican States. The country was composed of 19 states and 4 federal territories.[21] After the publication of the constitution, on November 18, theFederal District was created.[22] On November 24,Tlaxcala, which had retained a special status since the colonial era, was incorporated as a territory.[23]
On October 10, 1824,Guadalupe Victoria took office as the firstPresident of Mexico.[24]
.svg)
The political structure of theRepublic was amended by a decree on October 3, 1835, when thecentralist system was established.
The constituent states of theRepublic lost their freedom, autonomy, independence, and sovereignty by being totally subordinated to the central government. However, the territorial division itself was the same, as the text of Article 8 of the Law determined: The national territory is divided intodepartments, on the basis of population, location and other leading circumstances: its number, extension and subdivisions, would be detailed by constitutional law.[25]
TheSeven Constitutional Laws (Spanish:Siete Leyes Constitucionales) were promulgated on December 30, 1836.[26] The 1st article confirmed the decree of the law October 3, 1835; theRepublic would be divided into departments, these in districts and the districts in parties. The 2nd article posited that the division of theRepublic into departments would be under a special law with constitutional character.[27] On December 30, 1835, a transitory decree was added to theSeven Laws. The decree stated that the territory of Tlaxcala and the Federal District would become a part of the Department of Mexico. The territories of Alta and Baja California would form the department of the Californias.Coahuila y Tejas would be divided into two departments. Colima would form part of Michoacán, and Aguascalientes would be declared a department.
This period of political instability caused several conflicts between the central government and the entities of the country, and there were rebellions in several states:[28]
On September 11, 1842, the region ofSoconusco joinedMexico as part of the department ofChiapas.
The Federal Republic was restored by the interim presidentJosé Mariano Salas on August 22, 1846. The state ofGuerrero was provisionally erected in 1849, on the condition that it be approved by the legislatures of the states ofMéxico,Puebla andMichoacán, whose territories would be affected.
On February 5, 1857, theFederal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857 was enacted. In 1864, however, after theFrench intervention, the conservative Mexicans restored theconstitutional monarchy, known as theSecond Mexican Empire, led by the emperorMaximilian of Habsburg and supported by the French army ofNapoleon III. The Empire was deposed in 1867 by the republican forces ofBenito Juárez and the Federal Republic was restored again under the Constitution of 1857.
ThePolitical Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1917 was the result of theMexican Revolution. The third Constitution of Mexico confirmed the federal system of government that is currently in effect.[29]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)