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2061. La política internacional de las entidades federativas mexicanas

Author:
Fabiola Lopez Farfan and Jorge A. Schiavon
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This working paper analyses the participation of the Mexican federal units in the international arena. It seeks to answer three central questions: 1) do Mexican federal unit have a foreign policy of their own?, 2) which is the level of international participation of Mexican federal units?, and 3) which variables explain the variation in the level of internacional participation of Mexican federal units? To answer the first question, a brief analysis of the Mexican legal framework is presented, in order to clarify the legal limitations that federal units have in the foreign policy arena. To provide an answer to the second question, a typology of the international participation of federal units is developed and, based on it, the 32 Mexican federal units are classified. To answer the final question, it is argued that the degree of international participation depends on four types of variables: economic (income), political (party affiliation of state governors), geographic (border location), and local shocks (states' visibility). Evidence is provided to sustain the economic and geographic (at the Northern border only) variables. Finally, the last section presents three case studies (Federal District, Jalisco, and State of Mexico), which present huge variations in their level of international participation, in order to contrast them to better understand these extreme cases.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
Central America and Mexico

2062. Getting to “No”: Defending Against Demands in NAFTA Energy Negotiations

Author:
Antonio Ortiz Mena L.N.
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
How can a developing country defend itself against unwanted demands in international economic negotiations, especially when the demandeur is a stronger state? Such defense can be a necessary component of any strategy, not only a distributive one but also a mixed strategy aimed at a wider agreement that benefits both sides. Sometimes what looks like an unwelcome demand turns out, after exploration and exchanges of concessions, to be an acceptable element in a beneficial package deal. But some demands are unwelcome in the stronger sense that one's government places an infinite reservation value on that particular issue. The government would prefer no agreement. In the case of a deal breaker, the delegation can walk away from the entire negotiation, but this could have large costs in opportunities foregone and even possible penalties imposed. What are the alternatives short of walking away? Mexico's negotiators faced such situation in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations with the United States and Canada (1990-1992), specifically in the energy sector. In general the three states sought a mutual-gains agreement, and in general each employed a mixed strategy. In energy, however, Washington made demands--regarding investment and supply commitments--which Mexico found unacceptable. At the end of the day the Mexican team managed to attain its main offensive negotiation aims in NAFTA (significantly improved market access, faster tariff reductions in the U.S. and Canada than in Mexico, and an effective dispute settlement mechanism), as well as the main defensive ones in energy. How did they do it? Structural conditions, such as being a neighbor of the U.S., gives Mexico certain leverage in negotiations, for the U.S. will typically take into account non-economic considerations when negotiating over economic issues. Nonetheless, many lessons derived from Mexico's negotiation strategy in energy negotiations during NAFTA can be applied across a range of cases.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Energy Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
United States, Washington, Canada, North America, and Mexico

2063. What Role for Learning? The Diffusion of Privatisation in the OECD and Latin American Countries

Author:
Covadonga Meseguer
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
In this paper, I enquire whether 37 governments in industrial and in Latin American countries privatised as a result of learning from experience. Using a rational updating model, I examine whether the decision in the 1980s and 1990s to streamline the public sector was the outcome of a revision of beliefs about the effectiveness of privatisation or whether, alternatively, it was triggered by international pressures or mimicry. The results suggest that rational learning and especially emulation were two important factors in the decision to privatise. International pressures, here proxied by the presence or absence of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund and by European Union membership, are irrelevant to explanations of the decision to privatise. Finally, domestic political conditions appear relevant to the decision to launch privatisation but only when the analysis is carried out for each of the regional sub-samples. In the OECD countries, centre-left governments were more likely to privatise whereas in Latin American more repressive regimes were more willing to divest.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
Latin America

2064. Opinión pública y política exterior en México y Estados Unidos: un estudio comparado

Author:
Guadalupe Gonzalez (ed), Susan Minushikin (ed), Robert Y. Shapiro (ed), and Catherine Hug
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The 2004 Mexico and the World survey, conducted by Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) and Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales (COMEXI), is the first-ever comprehensive study of Mexican public and leadership opinion on international affairs. The study is designed to measure general attitudes and values concerning Mexico's relationship with the world rather than opinions on specific foreign policies or issues. This year's survey was conducted in cooperation with The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations' (CCFR) 2004 study of American public and leadership opinion on foreign policy, a periodic survey conducted since 1974.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Government
Political Geography:
United States, Central America, Mexico, and Chicago

2065. Comparing Mexican and American Public Opinion and Foreign Policy

Author:
Guadalupe Gonzalez (ed), Susan Minushikin (ed), Robert Y. Shapiro (ed), and Catherine Hug
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The 2004 Mexico and the World survey, conducted by Centro de InvestigaciÓ;n y Docencia EconÓmicas (CIDE) and Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales (COMEXI), is the first-ever comprehensive study of Mexican public and leadership opinion on international affairs. The study is designed to measure general attitudes and values concerning Mexico's relationship with the world rather than opinions on specific foreign policies or issues. This year's survey was conducted in cooperation with The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations' (CCFR) 2004 study of American public and leadership opinion on foreign policy, a periodic survey conducted since 1974.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Government
Political Geography:
United States, Central America, and Mexico

2066. Mexican Public Opinion and Foreign Policy

Author:
Guadalupe Gonzalez (ed), Susan Minushikin (ed), and Robert Y. Shapiro (ed)
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The 2004 Mexico and the World survey, conducted by Centro de InvestigaciÓn y Docencia EconÓmicas (CIDE) and Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales (COMEXI), is the first-ever comprehensive study of Mexican public and leadership opinion on international affairs. The study is designed to measure general attitudes and values concerning Mexico's relationship with the world rather than opinions on specific foreign policies or issues. This year's survey was conducted in cooperation with The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations' (CCFR) 2004 study of American public and leadership opinion on foreign policy, a periodic survey conducted since 1974.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
America, Central America, and Mexico

2067. The U.S. National Security Strategy and the Global War on Terror “Force Multiplier”

Author:
Charles W. Parker III
Publication Date:
04-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
In September 2002, President George W. Bush published a new National Security Strategy (NSS) in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 (9/11) terrorist attacks in the United States homeland. The publication of the new NSS represented a codification of a series of policy ideas that had been brewing since the end of the first Bush Administration and throughout the Clinton Administration, which were sharpened as a result of the newly perceived threats to the United States' security posture. Some prominent academics have argued that the NSS and Bush's actions represent a “neoimperialist” or “unilateralist” approach to the conduct of U.S. foreign relations, and are a radical and fundamental shift in the trajectory of U.S. power projection and assertiveness. They also lament a rift in relations with European allies in part due to this new policy trajectory, to the point of declaring that the Europe and the United States will be future rivals on the world stage.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

2068. International Investor Influence in the 1994-1995 Mexican Peso Crisis

Author:
Charles W. Parker III
Publication Date:
04-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
This essay provides a detailed overview, at a market- and firm- level, of the involvement and influence international portfolio investors had in the development and outcomes of the Mexico Peso Crisis of 1994-1995. It address two problems with the literature that is critical of the role of international investors during the crisis; the lack of specific data of market activity by firms that were engaged in Mexico during the volatile period before and after the December 1994 devaluation, and details on private creditor interactions with government officials in key episodes of the crisis. Through a review of the literature, industry data, and confidential interviews with key governmental and private actors, this essay concludes that there was sizable concentration of international investment firms engaged in Mexico, but claims they instigated or exacerbated the crisis are overblown; global funds rather than emerging market funds were a more likely culprit in Mexican market volatility and only after the devaluation; the role of investment banks as participants has been underestimated and is important in understanding collective action problems in finding a solution to the crisis; and a lack of information and mutual confidence, as well as policy overdependence on foreign capital flows, rather than purported “structural power,” were far more important factors in determining the onset and outcomes of the crisis.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
Central America and Mexico

2069. ¿Integración por la puerta trasera? La incursión del Tribunal de Justicia de las Comunidades Europeas en materia tributaria

Author:
Antonio Cubero and Loreno Ruano
Publication Date:
11-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
To what extent do member states control the process of European integration? This question has traditionally confronted Intergovernmentalists with Neo-functionalists and Institutionalists of various sorts. This paper provides evidence that supports the second school of thought and refines its theoretical claims with a case study: the European Court of Justice's jurisprudence on direct taxation. This is a 'hard case', because in this sector, the member states' resistance to the expansion of Community competence has been particularly virulent. It will be shown how, inspite of this, the Court's jurisprudence has ventured in the field of taxation to the point of undermining the principle upon which rest all national fiscal systems (the distinction between residents and non-residents), putting under severe strain the coherence of national tributary systems. The Court's jurisprudence have also had effects on issues pertaining exclusively to national taxation, through the principle of 'inverted non-discrimination'.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
Europe

2070. Securing Europe and Its Neighbours

Author:
John Edwin Mroz
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
Europe's policy makers currently face two key challenges: finding new methods for governments to work better together, and identifying new ways for businesses and civil society to protect the continent's citizens, infrastructure and economies from the threat of terrorism. The terrorist attacks in Madrid on 11 March 2004 and London on 7 July 2005 were vivid reminders that not enough has been done.
Topic:
Civil Society, Government, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Europe and London