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61. The Combat of Drug Trafficking in Mexico under Salinas: The Limits of Tolerance

Author:
Jorge Chabat
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The combat of drug trafficking in Mexico under the Salinas Administration showed some signs of improvement in terms of the indicators required by the U.S. government to grant certification every year: a) budgetary resources dedicated to fighting drug trafficking; b) seizures of shipments and eradication; c) police and military casualties in the drugs war; d) arrests; e) legal and institutional reforms; f) signing international agreements; and g) acceptance of U.S. collaboration, as well as the presence of DEA agents in Mexican territory. Even when the improvement in these indicators was very evident during the Salinas administration, the degree of final commitment of the Mexican government to fight drugs remains unclear. However, the interest of President Salinas in getting NAFTA approved provoked a reduction in the limits of tolerance to drug trafficking. All this suggests that international interests constituted an important factor to propel governments into a more confrontational approach with the drug trafficking.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, and Crime
Political Geography:
North America and Mexico

62. Mexico's War on Drugs: No Margin for Maneuver

Author:
Jorge Chabat
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Illegal drugs pose a threat to Mexico in many aspects: consumption, and violence and corruption provoked by the traffic of drugs in Mexican territory. However, even when consumption is a growing problem in Mexico, the main threat to Mexican stability comes from the corruption generated by the production and transportation of drugs in Mexico. Violence is also a problem, but it is difficult to assert that it constitutes right now a serious threat to Mexican governance. The Mexican government has been fighting this phenomenon for years in a context of institutional weakness and strong pressures from the United States. The fact that Mexico is a natural supplier of illegal drugs to the biggest market in the world, the United States, places the Mexican government in a very complex situation with no other alternative than to continue fighting drugs with very limited institutional and human resources. In this process, Mexico has no margin for maneuver to modify the parameters of the war on drugs.
Topic:
Security, Civil Society, and Crime
Political Geography:
United States, North America, and Mexico

63. 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

64. The Politics of Trade in North America: Comparing Models and Industries

Author:
Arturo Borja Tamayo, Philippe Faucher, Scott Morgenstern, and Daniel Nielson
Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This working paper studies the negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in two industrial chains: textile-apparel and auto parts-automotive. It compares two theoretical models. The first uses two internal variables (interest group strength and industry competitiveness) to explain the tariffs that were negotiated for the phase-out period of NAFTA. The second explores alternatives to increase the explanatory capacity of two-level games models. It incorporates the element of asymmetry between countries, and questions Putnam's (1988) hypothesis on the impact of domestic politics upon international negotiations. This second model explains the difference in the rules of origin that were adopted in NAFTA for the two industrial chains. The work reaches three conclusions. First, it confirms the necessity to specify different dependent variables to explain the outcomes of international trade agreements. Second, it concludes that a model using the two-level logic has explanatory advantages over one that does not combine levels. Third, it points out the potential to combine elements from the two models to reach a more complete explanation.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
North America

65. Government - Financial Sector Relations and the New Financial Structure in Mexico

Author:
Charles W. Parker III and Susan Minushikin
Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
For the first time in its modern history, Mexico is confronting a financial sector that is controlled by foreign investors. At the same time it is highly concentrated. The economic challenges that such an industry structure presents were the focus of public debate over the sales of Bancomer and Banco Serfin. The political challenges have not yet become a part of the public debate. These include changing relations between the banks and the government. This paper traces the history of government-bank relations and speculates on how this relationship may change given the new structure of Mexico's financial sector.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
North America and Mexico

66. Genocide and Humanitarian Intervention: Incorporating the Gender Variable

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The gender variable is one of the least-analyzed and most misunderstood elements of genocidal killing. This paper seeks to develop the authors inclusive framing of "gendercide" i.e., gender-selective mass killing, by exploring the relevance of gender to genocide prevention and humanitarian intervention. Among the specific arguments to be advanced is that the genocidal or prot-genocidal targeting of males, especially "battle-age" me, is one of the most reliable indicators of the onset, or impending onset, of full-scale genocide. In the three "classic" genocides of the twentieth century, for example - against the Armenian community in Turkey, European Jews, and the Tutsis of Rwanda - full-scale genocide was preceded by a wide range of gender-selective measures, including mass roundups and localized killings of men. The demonization of out-group males was a key feature of the propaganda discourse that paved the way for genocide. In addition, the initial stages of all these genocides overwhelmingly targeted males for extermination, a phenomenon that is also evident in numerous contemporary and historical cases. Associated patterns of demonization of "out-group" women, and abuses including rape and sexual assault, need to be factored into the analysis. </p
Topic:
Gender Issues, Genocide, Human Rights, and Human Welfare

67. The Russian Press in the Post-Soviet Era: A Case Study of Izvestia

Author:
Adam Jones
Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The progress of the Russian press in the late Soviet and post-Soviet eras can be described (with apologies to Vladimir Lenin) as "two steps forward, on step back." The flowering of glasnost (openness) under Mikhail Gorbachev le to a "golden age" of Soviet journalism, including an explosion of new publications and a lifting of nearly all state restrictions on journalists' professional activities. However, the collapse of the USSR and the onset of material crisis in 1991-92 quickly produced a winnowing of the press and a retrenchment on the part of surviving publications. At the same time, powerful new forces - especially oligarchs and regional and leaders - arose to vie with the state for influence over post-Soviet media. This paper explores the trajectory of one of the leading newspapers of the Soviet and post-Soviet period, Izvestia, in the light of those broader trends. While Izvestia emerged from the ashes of Soviet communism with formal control over its material plant and journalistic collective, it was soon subjected to a tug-of-war between powerful actors determined to control its destiny - first the Communist-dominated Duma (parliament), and then large corporations and business oligarchs. The struggle led, in 1997, to the dismissal of the paper's editor. Oleg Golembiovsky, and the departure of many staff to form Novye Izvestia (New Izvestia) - though this publication too, was also unwilling or unable to avoid the temptations of a close alliance with one of the leading oligarchs, Boris Berezovsky. The findings are place in the broader comparative context of the press in transition, based on the author's research into process of media liberalization and transition worldwide.
Topic:
Cold War, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

68. Political Science, International Relations, and AIDs in Africa

Author:
Catherine Boone and Jake Batsell
Publication Date:
02-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Political Science as an academic discipline has been slow to grapple with the enormous implications of the AIDS crisis for society, politics, and economy in much of the developing world. This paper argues that political scientists do, in fact, have much to offer the struggle to understand and respond to the AIDS crisis. It also argues that research in this area could contribute to theory-building in areas of traditional concern to political science. There is a rich array of research agendas linking AIDS and politics that are worthy of systematic attention. We sketch out five of these as they relate to Africa. They have to do with explaining variations in state response to the pandemic; the relationship between African governments and NGOs; the AIDS challenge to neo-liberalism; AIDS and North-South tensions; and connections between AIDS and international security issues. The discussion is intended to be suggestive; it is intended to provoke and encourage research and scholarly debate on these issues.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Politics
Political Geography:
Africa

69. Caminando por la Historia Intelectual de Seymour Martin Lipset

Author:
Jesús Velasco
Publication Date:
01-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This essay analyzes the life and work of one of the most distinguished American sociologists of the twentieth century, Seymour Martin Lipset. The essay evaluates two fundamental themes in Lipset's work, his analysis of democracy and anti-democracy and his thoughts on American exceptionalism. The paper concludes with some lessons derived from Lipset's work and life for Mexico and Mexican academics.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, and Education
Political Geography:
America

70. 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