Analysis of the lack of constitutional reform regulation at state level: a symptom of Mexican federalism weakness

Abstract

The Mexican constitutional reform process foresees for two phases: one in the federal stage, and another before the member states of the federation. According to the original conception of federalism, both instances should have the same importance. However, the poor regulation at the state level, and the little or no debate that occurs in local congresses during the constitutional reform processes, confirm that this is not the case.
Our objective is to corroborate the following hypothesis: the poor regulation of the reform process of the Federal Constitution at the state level constitutes an important deficit that represents a violation of the provisions of its article 135, and, by extension, a proof of the weakness of Mexican federalism.
Regarding the methodology used, a deductive paradigm has been followed, which, based on a generic contextualization of constitutional reform and federalism, lands on the Mexican reality to, first, examine the regulation (or its absence) of the participation of the federal entities in the reform of the federal constitution, and then analyze the fruits of a research project that provides real and concrete empirical data that allows us to confirm our hypothesis.
In this way, in the first section, in order to frame the object of study, we will reflect on the importance of the constitutional reform process in a generic way based on national and international doctrine. Next, we will extend this reflection to federalism, specifying it in the Mexican case, stressing the importance that the participation of the federal entities in it has for the health of the federal pact.

Subsequently, we will address the state of the art regarding our local constitutionalism, through documentary analysis of the local constitutions of the 32 federal entities, as well as their respective organic laws of the legislative power with the aim of verifying the regulation of their participation. in the reform of the Federal Constitution, examining its depth and verifying the complexity of the procedure, in accordance with the rigidity of our National Constitution.
Finally, to this analysis we will add consistent empirical data on the actual operation of the processing by local legislatures of the CPEUM reform procedure. For this, the Academic Body of which the authors are a part, carried out the research project entitled «The Constitutional Reform Process before the State Legislatures», consisting of directly inquiring in the 32 state legislatures information regarding response times, and voting results for specific constitutional reforms.
To all this, we will add some final conclusions where the results achieved are presented, and a proposal is also elaborated that aims to alleviate the revealed deficit.

Summary:
I. INTRODUCTION. II THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM PROCESS. III. FEDERALISM AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM IN MEXICO. IV. ANALYSIS OF THE NORMATIVE REGULATION THAT THE FEDERAL ENTITIES MAKE OF THEIR PARTICIPATION IN THE CPEUM REFORM. V. REAL PARTICIPATION OF THE FEDERATIVE ENTITIES IN THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM PROCESS: A PRACTICAL STUDY. VI. CONCLUSIONS.