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11. Elementos de una aproximación interpretativa a las ciencias sociales

Author:
Farid Kahhat
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Statesmen address security concerns based on their understanding of the issues at stake. Such a truism becomes problematic, though, once we realize that no fact or event does inherently pose a threat to a state's security. Threats can only be identified by silhouetting them against the background of an interpretive framework: only after we know what could count as a security threat can we recognize certain facts or events as particular instances of that general phenomena. Therefore, different frameworks of interpretation will elicit different meanings from the same facts and events, and suggest different courses of action in response to them.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Development, and Government

12. Las condicionantes internas de la política exterior de Brasil y México

Author:
Jorge A. Schiavon and Octavio Amorim Neto
Publication Date:
08-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Brazil's foreign policy is an example of continuity, while Mexico's foreign policy is characterized by change. The foreign policy of both countries is conditioned by both international and domestic variables. This working paper describes and explains comparatively the way in which the domestic politics of Brazil and Mexico are key factors in determining their foreign policies. The document is divided in two sections. The first and more important analyzes the mechanisms through which domestic institutional, economic, and political variables impact and determine the foreign policies of both countries; this section is divided in two parts, one on Brazil and the other on Mexico. The second section explores the consequences of domestic institutions in Brazil's and Mexico's foreign policies in the adminstrations of Vicente Fox y Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, after they took office in 2000 y 2003 respectively, using both cases to discuss the central findings of this research.
Topic:
International Relations and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Brazil, South America, Central America, and Mexico

13. La política exterior de las entidades federativas: un estudio comparado

Author:
Jorge A. Schiavon
Publication Date:
08-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This working paper analyses the causes of the increased international activity of federated states' units, and the way and intensity in which this activity takes place. First, it explains that the growing participation of federal entities in foreign policy is a product, on one hand, of increasing globalization and interdependence in the international system, and, on the other, of the internal processes of liberalization, democratization, and decentralization. Second, using the Mexican case as an example, it explains how the legal rules in the Constitution establish the limits of international participation of the states of the federation; then, it analyses how the institutional configuration, the division of power, and the division of purpose in the system influence the degree of intensity of participation of these federal units in foreign policy issues, within the constitutional limitations. Likewise, it considers economic capacity and geographical location of the states as variables that also seem to influence their degree of activity. Then, it briefly explores how Mexican federal entities have participated in the internacional arena. Finally, it describes the relationships, in terms of foreign policy, between different orders of government in other federal systems, such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States, and contrasts these relationships with those in Mexico.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, Switzerland, and Mexico

14. Balance of Power, Democracy and Foreign Policy in South America's Southern Cone

Author:
Farid Kahhat
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to assess the merits of two contending theories (balance of power and democratic peace) on the relationship between regime type (e.g., democratic or authoritarian) and foreign policy orientation (i.e., relative proneness towards conflict and cooperation) for the case of South America's Southern Cone between 1970 and 1995. I will argue that a balance of power perspective does not provide a persuasive explanation of changing patterns of inter-state conflict and cooperation within this region during the period under scrutiny. In turn, I will suggest that many attempts to test democratic peace theory beyond the industrialized democracies in the post-war era may be conceptually flawed.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Democratization, Government, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
South America

15. Los estudios de seguridad tras el fin de la Guerra Fría.

Author:
Farid Kahhat
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to compare a neorealist perspective on security issues with new perspectives on the subject that have gained ground since the end of the Cold War. The neorealist perspective privileges the state as the object of reference of security policies, while guaranteeing its political survival is seen as their ultimate aim (which implies, at the very least, to preserve an institutional control over a given territory). In turn, the main threats to the survival of the state are essentially foreign military threats, represented by the regular armies of neighboring states. Therefore, military arsenals provide the most effective means to cope with those threats.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Cold War, and War

16. Liberalizaci ó n Commercial y Reforma Burocr á tica en El Área de Tratados Comerciales Internacionales en México.

Author:
Jorge A. Schiavon and Antonio Ortiz Mena
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The central trade policy priority of the last two administrations (Carlos Salinas de Gortari, 1988-1994, and Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León, 1994-2000) was the negotiation and the implementation of one very important and ambitious free trade agreement each, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Mexico-European Union Free Trade Agreement respectively. This working paper explains how and why both administrations were able to successfully deal with the delegation problems that chief-executive principals face with their bureaucratic agents, through a series of institutional reforms. The main argument is that both Salinas and Zedillo had to deal with three specific agency problems: adverse selection, moral hazard, and incomplete enforcement, and that given the characteristics of the Mexican political system prevailing at that time, they were able to successfully solve these problems. These institutional reforms in the foreign economic policy should be understood as a response to agency problems, and not as a reflection of the personal governing style of Salinas and Zedillo.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Africa and North America

17. ¿ Hacia Dónde va la Pol ìtica Exterior Japonesa? El Rearme y el Sistema de Partidos

Author:
Isami Romero
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The central purpose of this article is to analyze the impact of the Japanese party system on the rearmament rhetoric in the 90's. based on a theoretical model which incorporates regional factors as well as domestic variables, the author argues that the rise of the rearmament rhetoric in Japan is a result of changes in the regional context of the country and the prominence of Conservatoriums in the domestic political arena. The author also presents a brief recount of Japanese political history since the Second World War. This article provides a general framework for the study of the impact of the party system on foreign policy making, and contributes to the present debate on the need to incorporate domestic variables to the study of international events.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Africa, Japan, Israel, East Asia, and Mexico

18. Structure and Choice in Foreign Policy Analysis

Author:
Peter Trubowitz
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
How do states choose their foreign policies? Most foreign policy analysis relies on structuralist reasoning to answer this question. Realist theory emphasizes a nation's position in the international distribution of power. A second approach focuses on domestic factors and stresses a country's political institutions. Both traditions focus on constraints on state behavior. The future of foreign policy analysis lies in finding ways to incorporate politics and choice into structuralist reasoning. Three main solutions have been proposed: theories that focus on how international pressures affect competing domestic coalitions, rational choices theories that analyze "two level games," and constructivism. This paper proposes an alternative model that views politicians as political entrepreneurs who seek to consolidate domestic power in national arenas that are conditioned by international constraints. The approach is developed and illustrated in a discussion of foreign policy choice in the United States.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Development, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States

19. Sobre Contagios y Remedios: La Heterodoxia Económica del New Deal, La Políca Exterior de Roosevelt y su Impacto sobre la Administracón Cerdenista

Author:
Joge Schiavon
Publication Date:
01-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The article explores the Mexico-United States bilateral relation during the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lazaro Cardenas, in order to better understand how U.S. domestic and foreign policies influence the management of its relation with Mexico, which in turn can facilitate or not the implementation of public policies in the Mexican system. The principal hypothesis is that the New Deal modified the American liberal conception of state intervention in economic and social issues inside the United States, and that this permitted Cardenas' economic heterodoxy, both in political and ideological terms. Evidence is provided to support two points. First, the changes in U.S. foreign policy that resulted from the enactment of the Good Neighbor Policy invested the Cardenas administration with greater autonomy in economics issues. Second, the new economic ideas derived from the New Deal facilitated and justified increased state intervention of Cardenas' government in the economy, using fiscal policy and direct sate participation in economic areas defined as strategic. In sum, this article demonstrates that Roosevelt's domestic and foreign policies generated a permissive environment for the enactment of the most important public policies during the administration of Cardenas, supporting the idea that U.S. internal and international actions directly affect the possibilities of policy implementation in Mexico.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Mexico

20. The Bush Administration and the Future of Transatlantic Relations

Author:
Peter Trubowitz
Publication Date:
01-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This paper, the first of a planned two-part analysis, examines the institutions of paramilitarism, death squads, and warlords in Latin America, with a focus on the case-studies of Mexico and Peru. It begins with an overview of the small comparative literature on paramilitary movements and death squads around the world, seeking to define and clarify the terminology. The literature on "warlordism" is then reviewed, and the similarities and distinctions between paramilitaries and warlords are considered. Lastly, I examine two case-studies that have not, as yet, received extended attention in the comparative literature: Mexico and Colombia. The paper concludes by summarizing the findings and charting a course for future investigations.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
United States, Colombia, Latin America, and Mexico