Mesomobilization Movements influencing policy change in Mexico

Nowadays we can observe in daily life, how citizens’ participation in public issues is changing. The government is no longer the only actor who determines and delimits the conditions of participation. Today the citizens have created their own channels and arenas to influence the public agenda. The mesomobilization movements are one example of these innovative manifestations, to pressure governments and politicians to attend to specific problems. We refer to mesomobilization, when a group of citizens attempts to mobilize individuals and other organizations to change a public policy. This study examines how the mesomobilization movements operate framing strategies to make changes to public policies. The research focuses on a citizen initiative in Mexico, where two groups of citizens combine efforts and design an institutional instrument to reduce, prevent and punish corruption in the public sector. This movement contributed to important changes to anticorruption policy in the country. The 3de3 initiative is one example of how the meso level organizations can influence the perceptions of stakeholders and consequently impact on public policy modifications. Our findings reveal that the employment of framing strategies is highly connected with the possibility of impacting the public agenda. The study of this specific case in Mexico, opens the opportunity to observe the implications, features, processes and effects of the mesomobilization movements which attempt to participate in public issues.