The Political Impact of NAFTA on Mexico: Reflections on the Political Economy of Democratization

Abstract

At the time of the decision to negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), advocates argued that closer integration with Canada and the United States would have a democratizing influence on Mexico's political regime (Baer and Weintraub, 1994: 174–79; Pastor, 1993: 67). Critics of the deal suggested just the opposite, insisting that NAFTA might perpetuate or even reinvigorate authoritarian rule (Aguilar Zinser, 1993: 203–15; Castañeda 1996). With the breakthrough elections of July 2000 and the transfer of executive power to an opposition party the — PAN, or National Action Party — it is timely to ask: were the advocates of NAFTA right all along? Was NAFTA the impetus for Mexico's long overdue transition to democracy?