The following dissertation is a study of the evolution of Mexican foreign policy under the administration of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994). It is the hypothesis of this study that, for the dual purposes of pulling Mexico out of the economic crisis of the early 1980s and re-establishing the legitimacy of the ruling party after a drastic setback in the 1988 elections, Salinas took advantage of the international political and economic climate of the late 1980s to reorient Mexican foreign policy away from past traditions In order to do so, the Salinas administration, both rhetorically and in practice, began a process of eliminating those negative aspects of its foreign policy that tended to created an atmosphere of tension, suspicion, and hostility in its foreign relations. At the same time, the Salinas administration began to promote a foreign policy of closer and trusting relations with the other states of the world, especially those countries most important to Mexico's economic well-being. Salinas also waged a relatively successful public campaign to convince the Mexican population of the necessity and the utility of this foreign policy strategy. But Salinas had many critics, both within Mexico and outside the country, which he could neither escape nor ignore; and his foreign policy was tempered as a consequence Therefore, the study utilizes a modified levels-of-analysis methodology to approach Mexican foreign policy from the multiple different forces at work in the country's foreign policy process. Throughout the paper, Mexican political culture, the Mexican government, Mexican society, and external events beyond Mexico's control serve as the individual levels-of-analysis through which Mexican foreign policy during these years is assessed Because it is the most significant Mexican foreign policy initiative of the period, the North American Free Trade Agreement constitutes an important case study in this paper; but there are numerous other examples of this process in both the international economic and political/diplomatic foreign policy of the Salinas administration that are touched upon as well. In the final analysis, the available evidence indicates that Mexican foreign policy did undergo a substantive transformation along the lines envisioned by the hypothesis / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_25672 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Contributors | Huck, James Douglas, Jr (Author), Camp, Roderic Ai (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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