THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary - July 3, 2018 - Topic 2

Mexican wave: what lies ahead for President López Obrador

The mandate in Mexico could not have been more predictable, as frontrunner Andrés Manuel López Obrador won the presidential election very comfortably on Sunday. “The rice is cooked,” he declared as his expected victory materialised. The overwhelming mandate is a case of third-time lucky, the story of a contender who picked up the pieces after a razor-thin defeat in 2006 and another blow in the 2012 elections. Mr. Lopez Obrador found electoral resonance with a people deeply disillusioned with rampant corruption and crime as well as a leadership seen to be adrift. With his Morena party looking at a majority in both Houses of the Mexican Congress, he will have almost unfettered legislative and executive authority. 

The rout of the incumbent Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), reduced to third place behind the conservatives, speaks to the sense of general disenchantment. Outgoing President Enrique Peña Nieto’s rule has been marred by allegations of poll finance irregularities and stalling of an inquiry into a separate bribery scandal. Amid this domestic turmoil, Mexico has emerged as a major foreign investment hub in recent years. Its membership of the North American Free Trade Agreement has integrated the country into the global supply chains, bolstering its image as a market-friendly destination. However, an uneven distribution of the goodies of an open economy among the regions has accentuated inequality and increased unemployment.

Addressing these challenges is among the early priorities for the 64-year-old former Mayor of Mexico City, who will assume office in December. Awkwardly for Mr. López Obrador, the state of limbo that NAFTA has been in since the election of President Donald Trump to the White House shows no sign of breaking. Once a vocal opponent of opening Mexico’s oil sector to private and foreign investment, he has of late toned down such rhetoric. Mr. López Obrador has also expressed support for free trade and a willingness to renegotiate NAFTA. Such reassurances may or may not allay the concerns of sceptics, who fear a repeat of the Latin American model of populist public investment of the last decade. But with global commodity prices gradually recovering, Mr. López Obrador may see merit in balancing the interests of business with his socio-economic agenda of combating crime and corruption. Mexico’s President-elect is by all accounts an anti-establishment politician. Time will tell whether he can resist the lure of populism while addressing crucial challenges. The thorny issue with Washington, of the status of Mexican migrants residing in the U.S., will prove to be a test case. Yet, with the emphatic mandate he has received, Mr. López Obrador has as good a base as possible to bring coherence in Mexico’s internal and external affairs.

Vocabulary

Mandate: an official order or commission to do something.

Example: A mandate to seek the release of political prisoners

Synonyms: instruction, directive, decree, command, order, injunction, edict

Predictable: able to be predicted.

Example: The market is volatile and never predictable

Synonyms: foreseeable,anticipated, foreseen, unsurprising

Overwhelm: very great in amount.

Example: He was elected president by an overwhelming majority

Synonyms: very large, enormous, immense, inordinate, massive, huge; very strong

Resonance: the quality in a sound of being deep, full, and reverberating.

Example: The resonance of his voice

Unfetter: release from restraint or inhibition.

Example: His imagination is unfettered by the laws of logic

Synonyms: unrestrained, unrestricted, unconstrained, uninhibited, free, rampant

Disenchantment: a feeling of disappointment about someone or something you previously respected or admired; disillusionment.

Example: Growing disenchantment with the leadership

Synonyms: disillusionment, disappointment, dissatisfaction, discontent, discontentedness

Turmoil: a state of great disturbance, confusion, or uncertainty.

Example: The country was in turmoil

Synonyms: confusion, upheaval, turbulence, tumult, disorder, disturbance, agitation

Bolstering: support or strengthen; prop up.

Example: The fall in interest rates is starting to bolster confidence

Accentuate: make more noticeable or prominent.

Example: His jacket unfortunately accentuated his paunch

Synonyms: focus attention on, point up, underline, underscore

Rhetoric: the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques.

Example: Born into a rich provincial family, he studied philosophy as well as rhetoric and law.

Synonyms: oratory, eloquence, command of language, way with words

Lure: tempt a person or an animal to do something or to go somewhere, especially by offering some form of reward.

Example: The child was lured into a car but managed to escape

Synonyms: tempt, entice, attract, induce, coax, persuade, inveigle, allure, seduce

Emphatic: showing or giving emphasis; expressing something forcibly and clearly.

Example: The children were emphatic that they would like to repeat the experience

Synonyms: vehement, firm, wholehearted, forceful, forcible, energetic, vigorous

Coherence: the quality of being logical and consistent.

Example: This raises further questions on the coherence of state policy