Mexico's Foreign Policy under President Salinas: Searching for Friends Abroad (original) (raw)
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Mexico’s Foreign Policy under Salinas: The Search for Friends in the First World
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I. INTRODUCTION After years in the wings, Mexico is poised for the spotlight. The club of rich nations hails it as the perfect student of economics. What better candidate for stardom than this country of 85 million people, which went bust so publicly just over ten years ago and which has since embarked on dramatic and successful economic reforms? .Mr. Salinas has a claim to be hailed as one the great men of the 20th century (The Economist 1993).
Mexico: A leader in search of like-minded peers
Over the last decade Mexico has chosen and has been forced to practice a sort of ''stand alone'' foreign policy, in part due to its marginalization in Latin America, in part due to the growing bilateralization of relations in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) context. The national narrative of acting as a bridge in economic terms for accessing the NAFTA market proved not very attractive to international partners. As a result, Mexico has become the classical ''leader without followers.'' Joining the MIKTA initiative, a grouping formed by Mexico, Indonesia, South Corea, Turkey and Australia, is a highly welcomed option for regaining international presence without the Brazilian shadow, so strong in the region, and for defining a specific intermediary role. Mexico clearly embraced a ''Southern'' identity only in very limited moments of its foreign policy history and always tried to maintain a middle way, as an agreeable voice and a helpful fixer for international conferences and meetings. The old/new formula that seems to feed Mexico's new international MIKTA presence is that of ''multiple memberships'' following a rationale of ''like-mindedness,'' a rationale that allows for promoting its presence in a great variety of institutions and regional integration schemes, but without compromising too much of its national economic development priorities. This article analyzes these half-way/soft doctrinal foundations of Mexican foreign policy with respect to Mexico's identification with and outreach to the MIKTA group, both in terms of collective action and of bilateral efforts to establish viable relations with its members.
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"The Road Ahead: the 21st Century World Order in the Eyes of Policy Planners". In an ever-changing and interconnected global context, foreign affairs ministries have become neuralgic centers for every State. Globalization, technological change, and increasing economic interdependence have given way to shared challenges that make cooperation more necessary and urgent than ever. We are living in an era of profound and fast-paced changes in the international system, marked by uncertainty and shared risks. The world faces a redistribution of economic, political, and social power. Terrorism, climate change, human displacement, and nuclear weapons stand out as some of the most alarming phenomena that call on globally coordinated solutions. Mexico is no stranger to this collective task.
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