Mexico's Foreign Policy under President Salinas: Searching for Friends Abroad (original) (raw)

Mexico"s official foreign policy under Carlos Salinas (1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994) was defined as a search for economic modernization and diversification in its external relations. Traditional elements of Mexican foreign affairs were largely turned upside down, even if the Salinas diplomatic team maintained its traditional discourse in multilateral fora. The new Mexico became pragmatic, internationalist, pro-American and economistic. However, attempts to diversify economic relations and build economic bridges with Europe and Asia did not bear fruit. When the dust settled, Mexico had devoted most of its political capital on cultivating its relations with the United States, and largely distanced itself from Latin America. NAFTA, the crowning achievement of the sexenio, did not necessarily render Mexico more politically vulnerable, as common wisdom has it and, paradoxically, it may yet prove the key to enhanced diversification. But however one judges Salinas" term in office, it is clear that the political economy orientation his administration gave Mexico has become institutionalized. Therefore, making sense of current Mexican foreign policy requires an understanding of the Salinas era.