Principled Pragmatism in Mexico's Foreign Policy

This book explores Mexico's foreign policy using the 'principled pragmatism' approach. It describes and explains main external actions from the country's independence in the nineteenth century to Andrés Manuel López Obrador's administration. The principal argument is that Mexico has resorted to principled pragmatism due to geographic, historical, economic, security, and political reasons. In other words, the nation uses this instrument to deal with the United States, defend national interests, appease domestic groups, and promote economic growth.
The key characteristics of Mexico's principled pragmatism in foreign policy are that the nation projects a double-edged diplomacy to cope with external and domestic challenges at the same time. This policy is mainly for domestic consumption, and it is also linked to the type of actors that are involved in the decision-making process and to the kind of topics included in the agenda. This principled pragmatism is related to the nature of theintention: principism is deliberate and pragmatism is forced; and this policy is used to increase Mexico's international bargaining power.

Proposes Principist Pragmatism as a new analytical framework to study foreign policy Offers a comprehensive analysis of Mexico's foreign policy since the country's independence in 1821 First English-language book to cover Mexican foreign policy in great detail

Autorentext

Rafael Velazquez-Flores is Professor of International Relations at the School of Economics and International Relations, University of Baja California, Mexico. He has taught International Relations in several Mexican universities at graduate and undergraduate levels. He has been a visiting professor at the Pablo Olavide University in Seville, Spain; Friedrich-Alexander-Universität in Erlangen, Germany; and the Maastricht Center for Transatlantic Studies, The Netherlands. His research interests focus on Mexican foreign policy, U.S.-Mexican relations, and diplomacy. He is past president of the Mexican Association of International Studies. He is president of the Center for Mexican Foreign Policy Studies, a think tank based in Mexico City dedicated to analyzing Mexico's foreign policy. He is a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences.

Klappentext

This book explores Mexico's foreign policy using the principled pragmatism approach. It describes and explains main external actions from the country s independence in the nineteenth century to Andrés Manuel López Obrador s administration. The principal argument is that Mexico has resorted to principled pragmatism due to geographic, historical, economic, security, and political reasons. In other words, the nation uses this instrument to deal with the United States, defend national interests, appease domestic groups, and promote economic growth. The key characteristics of Mexicös principled pragmatism in foreign policy are that the nation projects a double-edged diplomacy to cope with external and domestic challenges at the same time. This policy is mainly for domestic consumption, and it is also linked to the type of actors that are involved in the decision-making process and to the kind of topics included in the agenda. This principled pragmatism is related to the nature of theintention: principism is deliberate and pragmatism is forced; and this policy is used to increase Mexicös international bargaining power.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2 Principled Pragmatism: An Approach to Study Foreign Policy.- Chapter 3. Mexico´s Foreign Policy in the XIX Century: The Origins of Principled Pragmatism 1821-1853.- Chapter 4. The Reform Period and the Porfirio Diaz Administration 1853-1910: The beginning of the Mexican Principled Pragmatism.- Chapter 5. The Revolutionary Phase and the Nationalistic Foreign Policy 1910-1934.- Chapter 6. Pragmatism and Nationalism in Mexico's Foreign Policy during the Cardenas administration and the Second World War 1934-1946.- Chapter 7. Principled Pragmatism in Mexico´s Foreign Policy during the First Years of the Cold War (1946-1970).- Chapter 8. Activist Foreign Policy, Oil Impetus and Economic Crisis (1970-1988).- Chapter 9. Mexico's Foreign Policy after the end of the Cold War: A New Neoliberal Economic Pragmatism 1988-2000.- Chapter 10. Changes in the Political System and a New Principled-Pragmatic Foreign Policy 2000-2018.- Chapter 11. Principled Pragmatism under a Leftist Administration: The Foreign Policy of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.- Chapter 12. Conclusions.