Changing Structure Of Mexico

Mexico is reinventing itself. It is moving toward a more tolerant, global, market oriented, and democratic society. This new edition of "Changing Structure of Mexico" is a comprehensive and up-to-date presentation of Mexico's political, social, and economic issues. All chapters have been rewritten by noted Mexican scholars and practitioners to provide a lucid and informative introductory reader on Mexico. The book covers such topics as Mexico's foreign economic policy and NAFTA; maquiladoras; technology policy; and Asian competition; as well as domestic economics such as banking, tax reform, and oil/energy policy; the environment; population and migration policy; the changing structure of political parties; and values and changes affecting women.

In the four years since the first edition was published, Mexico's political system—exceptional among Latin American nations—has been severely tested. The administration has been struggling to cope with the effects of a depressed market for oil, the demands of an increasingly vocal opposition, and the foreign policy challenges posed by violence in Central America. In this timely second edition of a work that has received favorable attention in the United States and in Mexico, the authors extend their analysis of Mexico's current and future prospects to cover the dramatic developments of the past few years. Throughout, the authors have updated their discussion to assess the social and political impact of the latest elections, the recent earthquakes, and the continuing cycle of economic crisis, recovery, and renewed crisis. They also pay special attention to Mexico's initiatives for peace in Central America and to recent shifts in Mexican-U.S. relations. Appropriate for courses in Mexican studies, Latin American politics, and Third World development, this text also will be of value to anyone interested in Mexico's political and economic affairs.

"Mexico is immersed in deep transformations. The country has opened to the world, liberalized its economy and moved to a more democratic system. There is an obvious need to understand the process. Dan Levy and Kate Bruhn's book is a well-balanced portrayal of Mexico's contemporary history, and of the role played by the United States. A must for those interested in understanding what is going on in Mexico."--Sergio Aguayo, author of "Myths and (Mis)Perceptions: Changing U.S. Elite Visions of Mexico" "A wonderful guide to the social, economic, and political changes in contemporary Mexico. It goes a long way to explaining the concurrent rise of narco-traffic, the victory of Fox, and the transformation of the Mexican economy in the 1990s. I learned a great deal from it."--Miguel Centeno, author of "Democracy Within Reason: Technocratic Revolution in Mexico"

Covers the period from 1968 to 1989.

An introduction to Mexico and its social, economic, and political/democratic developments over the past twenty years.

Why do Mexicans migrate to the United States? Is there a typical Mexican migrant? Beginning in the 1970s, survey data indicated that the average migrant was a young, unmarried man who was poor, undereducated, and in search of better employment opportunities. This is the general view that most Americans still hold of immigrants from Mexico. On the Move argues that not only does this view of Mexican migrants reinforce the stereotype of their undesirability, but it also fails to capture the true diversity of migrants from Mexico and their evolving migration patterns over time. Using survey data from over 145,000 Mexicans and in-depth interviews with nearly 140 Mexicans, Filiz Garip reveals a more accurate picture of Mexico-U.S migration. In the last fifty years there have been four primary waves: a male-dominated migration from rural areas in the 1960s and '70s, a second migration of young men from socioeconomically more well-off families during the 1980s, a migration of women joining spouses already in the United States in the late 1980s and ’90s, and a generation of more educated, urban migrants in the late 1990s and early 2000s. For each of these four stages, Garip examines the changing variety of reasons for why people migrate and migrants’ perceptions of their opportunities in Mexico and the United States. Looking at Mexico-U.S. migration during the last half century, On the Move uncovers the vast mechanisms underlying the flow of people moving between nations.

Although the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to address global climate change, has been regarded by many as an unsuccessful treaty both politically and environmentally, it stands as one of the world’s few truly global agreements. Why did such a diverse group of countries decide to sign and/or ratify the treaty? Why did they choose to do so at different times and in different ways? What explains their foreign policy behavior? Amy Below’s book builds off the increasing significance of climate change and uses the Kyoto Protocol as a case study to analyze foreign policy decision making in Latin America. Below’s study takes a regional perspective in order to examine why countries in Latin America made disparate foreign policy choices when they were faced with the same decision. The book looks at the decisions in Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela via a process-tracing method. Below uses information obtained from primary and secondary documents and elite interviews to help reconstruct the processes, and augments her reconstruction with a content analysis of Conference of the Parties speeches by presidents and country delegates. The book complies with convention in the field by arguing that systemic, national and individual-level factors simultaneously impact foreign policy decisions, but makes the additional claim that role theory most accurately accounts for relationships between variables. Environmental Politics and Foreign Policy Decision Making in Latin America considers a variety of factors on individual, national, and international levels of analysis, and show that the foreign policy decisions are best viewed through the prism of role theory. The book also draws conclusions about the value of role theory in general and about environmental foreign policy decisions in developing countries, which will be of value to both policy-makers and academics.