8/12/2019 The Politics of Economic Liberalization in Mexico
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DINE EDVIS
The Politics of conomic Liberalization in Mexico:Explaining the
North merican Free Tradegreement
ntrodutionIn August 1992, the United States, Canada, andMexico
signed free trade ag reement to establishan open marker across the
North American continent . Of the th ree signatories Mexicos
support forthe pact is perhaps the most su rpr ising. Mexicosrul
ing Partido Revolucionario Instirucion al PRI ,which still formally
controls the governmen t andeconomic po licym ak ing , is parry
that acqui red andmaintained power over the decades largely
throughits strong nationalist rhe tor ic and attendant
protectionist policy stances. Mexico, since the 1910 Revolu tion
has vigorously guarded its domestic indu stryand ac tively
struggled for national au ton omy especially vis-a-vis its pow
erful northern ne ighbors.For example, it nationalized its oil
industry in 1938,imposed stric t regu la tion of the U.S.-based
automobile ind us try in the 950s and 960s, imposed extensive res
tric tions on foreign inve stmen t in 1973,and nationalized its
banks in 1982. It is not thatMexico has shunned foreign,
particularly U.S. pital, or that it has rejected all attempts at
international integration. The bracero program introducedin the
I960s and the maquiladora program developed over the 9s and 1980s
attest to Mexicos
in terest in economic cooperation with the UnitedStates. None
theless, Mexican politics and econom icpolicy have alw ays been
defined by strong nationalis t orientation and clear re luc tance
to fully openits borders to free trade.What then, explains Mexicos
unfet tered enthu siasm for the Nor th American Free Trade
Agreement NAFTA, policy which is the kingpin of
President Carlos Salinas de Gortaris new stra tegyof large
-scale economic libe ral iza tion? This question is especial ly
compelling when we consider thatin 1980, just decade ago, Mexicos
President JosLopez Portillo rejected his na tions entry into
theGene ral Agreement on Trade and Tariffs GAIT,deciding to shun
even a moderate move towardsfree market com petition continuing
instead with program of indus trial protect ion Scarcely two
yearslater; Mexico na tio na lized its banking system, policy that,
in the cu rrent drive towards privatiz at ionaccompanying Salinass
support for the NAFTA,would be an ana thema Why the about-face in
Mexicos economic policy, the move from strong protectio n to
untrammeled liberal iza tion?The literature on per iphera l
developm en t isreplete with theoretically info rmed argum en ts
thatcan be marsha lled as tentative hypotheses abou t the
iane E. ri is an assistant professor of soioloy member of the
ommittee on Historical Studies at theGraduate Facul ty of Political
snd Si ciaj Science Ncri Schcl for Social Research r Neu York.
