For most of the twentieth century, Mexico was ruled by a broadly inclusive hegemonic party seeking to ratify its monopoly hold on power through controlled, non-competitive elections at all levels. In contrast to much of the literature, this chapter presents Mexico’s post-revolutionary political system not as a regime sui generis—a unique, idiosyncratic form of authoritarianism—but rather as a prototypical case of ‘electoral authoritarianism’. Similarly, it interprets the country’s recent trajectory of regime change not as a transition sui generis—as a unique, idiosyncratic path to democracy—but instead as a prototypical case of ‘democratization by elections’.