Territorial coordination models
Introduction
The territorial organization of Mexico is the set of rules and processes under which the component parts of the geographical area occupied by the country are divided and administered. Both aspects (rules and processes) have been the result of the historical events that delimited the physical space, but also of the different government systems and constitutional regimes that the country had.[1].
The current structure and its management respond to those of a federation, that is, there are sovereign territorial units; Furthermore, the central government is directly responsible for those territorial components assigned to it by law (airspace, seas and adjacent islands). Understanding this concept as an organization of political division, the country is made up of thirty-two federative entities (thirty-one states and Mexico City, capital of the republic). In turn, these entities are divided into municipalities—in the case of states, whose current number is 2,462—[2] or territorial demarcations—in the case of Mexico City, whose current number is sixteen—[3][4][5].
History
Independence and the constitutional empire
The first documents or statutes that institutionalized the insurgent movement (Constitutional Elements and Sentiments of the Nation), in the context of the War of Independence, did not exactly configure the type of political division and its administration, given the express intention of separation of the new nation from the Spanish Empire.[6].
On November 6, 1813, the Congress of Anáhuac issued the Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of Northern America. This name made a clear reference to the name used by the Constitution of Cádiz, to delimit the territory of the Spanish Empire that corresponded to the Viceroyalty of New Spain and its dependent areas (Captainship General of Guatemala, Cuba, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Spanish part of the island of Hispaniola - today the Dominican Republic -); assuming that this was the geographical space on which the new nation would be established. However, it was the Constitutional Decree for the Freedom of Mexican America of 1814, the first document that accurately named the constituent parts of the new country and dedicated a section to its internal and provisional administration; In it he collected several of the proposals contained in the Spanish Magna Carta. This transitional organization would consist of establishing collegiate bodies, called , starting from three subdivisions with the following names (from lowest to highest): ; From them the provincial deputies of the eventual would be elected, and these would, at the same time, be the highest authorities of said provinces. However, neither these legal systems, nor their driving institutions, survived the fall of José María Morelos.[7][8][9].