NAFTA and Democracy in Mexico: A Successful Failure? (Routledge Studies in North American Politics)

After describing NAFTA as ‘the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere’, Donald Trump’s election seemed to represent the final nail in the coffin for North American economic integration. Following a decade of stagnation, however, Trump’s victory presents a timely opportunity to reconsider North American integration and evaluate NAFTA’s democratic track record in Mexico.

In this book, Pablo Calderón Martínez presents a detailed analysis of NAFTA’s influence as a political tool for democracy in Mexico. Extending beyond a mere economic or social exploration of the consequences of NAFTA, Calderón Martínez uses a three-tiered analysis based on causality mechanisms to explain how the interactions between internationalisation and democratisation unfolded in Mexico. Calderón Martínez’s analysis demonstrates that Mexico’s internationalisation project under the framework of NAFTA gave shape to, if not made, Mexico’s democratisation process.

An original and timely resource for scholars and students interested in understanding how – in cases like Mexico where transitions to democracy are characterised by a finely poised balance of power – small influences from abroad can make significant long-lasting differences domestically.

Pablo Calderón Martínez is a Lecturer at Aston University, UK and a Visiting Professor at the Department of International Studies, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), Mexico. Pablo’s research focuses on Spanish and Latin American democratisation processes, political economy, elites and political culture. His publications have appeared in the Journal of Contemporary and European Studies, the Bulletin of Latin American Research and Government and Opposition. He has held academic positions at King’s College London and at the New College of the Humanities London.