The three prevailing issues at the turn of the century are the state of the economy, the distribution of wealth, and the future of the political system. They are interrelated. Mexico's political system survived democratic transitions elsewhere in Latin America during the 1980s and in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989. Its demise is by no means inevitable. One factor rarely taken into consideration is the position of the military, subordinate to the civil power since the Calles era, but unsure of its future in any system without the PRI as the monolith to which it could cling. To some observers a transition from presidential authoritarianism to military rule might seem logical, especially if the electoral disintegration of the PRI led to social turmoil and political confusion, and the Chiapas and related questions remained unresolved. This is not to present a negative scenario, but to warn that the break-up of the PRI could conceivably produce unforeseen circumstances. It would be as erroneous to argue in the late 1990s that Mexico was moving towards open pluralism as it was in the 1960s to assume that high growth rates were leading the country towards a broader distribution of wealth and social democracy. Even so, remarkable political transitions have taken place in other countries with a not too radically distinct political culture. The democratic transition in Venezuela in 1958–59 and in Spain after 1975 are two important cases in point.