Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T00:11:37.320Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Political Entrepreneurs and Neoliberal Reform in Mexico: The Salinas Requisa of the Port of Veracruz

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jonathan T. Hiskey
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This essay extends the discussion on the politics of reform by identifying specific political strategies that allow policymakers to implement difficult economic reforms in the context of an increasingly democratic and contentious policymaking environment. Analyzing the policymaking strategy of Mexican president Carlos Salinas (1988-94) in his efforts to reorganize the Port of Veracruz, it identifies the element of political entrepreneurship as essential to the long-term success of Salinas's port policy. When compared with the mixed record of many of Salinas's other reforms and the authoritarian manner in which they were implemented, the port policy stands out both for its successful outcome and for Salinas's concerted political efforts to implement it. Even in the context of an authoritarian policymaking regime, an effective political strategy is an important element in achieving the long-term goals of market-based reforms.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , Summer 2003 , pp. 105 - 132
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Auerbach, Nancy Neiman. 2000. States, Banks, and Markets: Mexico's Path to Financial Liberalization in Comparative Perspective. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Baer, M. Delal. 1993. Mexico's Second Revolution: Pathways to Liberalization. In Political and Economic Liberalization in Mexico, ed. Riordan, Roett. Boulder: Lynne Rienner. 51–68.Google Scholar
Bussey, Jane. 1991. Breaking a Union's Grip on a Key Mexican Port. U.S. News and World Report 111, 2: 40.Google Scholar
Centeno, Miguel A. 1994. Democracy Within Reason: Technocratic Revolution in Mexico. University Park: Penn State University Press.Google Scholar
Clifton, Judith. 2000a. The Politics of Telecommunications in Mexico: Privatisation and State-Labour Relations, 1982–1995. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clifton, Judith. 2000b. On the Political Consequences of Privatisation: the Case of Teléfonos de México. Bulletin of Latin Amerícan Research 19, 1: 63–79.Google Scholar
Cody, Edward. 1991. Salinas Purges Port of Veracruz—by Seizing It; Graft-Ridden Unions Ousted as Mexico Gears up for Trade. Washington Post, June 15: 16A.Google Scholar
Cornelius, Wayne A., Ann, L. Craig, and Jonathan, Fox, eds. 1994. Transforming State-Society Relations in Mexico: The National Solidarity Strategy. La Jolla: Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Dresser, Denise. 1994. Bringing the Poor Back in: National Solidarity as a Strategy of Regime Legitimation. in Cornelius et al. 1994. 143–66.Google Scholar
Duquette, Michel. 1999. Building New Democracies: Economic and Social Reform in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Gandara, Alfredo. 1991. Importante papel tendrán los puertos: Csg. El Dictamen (Veracruz) April 22: 1A.Google Scholar
Grindle, Merilee S. 1996. Challenging the State: Crisis and Innovation in Latin America and Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Haggard, Stephan, and Robert, Kaufman, eds. 1992. The Politics of Economic Adjustment. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Haggard, Stephan, and Steven, B. Webb. 1993. What Do We Know about the Political Economy of Economic Policy Reform World Bank Research Observer 8, 2: 143–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haggard, Stephan, and Steven, B. Webb. 1996. Voting for Reform: Democracy, Political Liberalization, and Structural Adjustment: An Overview. San Francisco: Institute for Contemporary Studies Press.Google Scholar
Haggard, Stephan, and Steven, B. Webb, eds. 1994. Voting for Reform: Democracy, Political Liberalization and Economic Adjustment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Haggard, Stephan, Jean-Dominque, Lafay, and Christian, Morrisson. 1995. The Political Feasibility of Adjustment in Developing Countries. Paris: Development Centre, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.Google Scholar
Harberger, Arnold C. 1993. Secrets of Success: a Handful of Heroes. American Economic Review 83, 2: 343–50.Google Scholar
Hiskey, Jonathan T. 1993. Mexican Policymaking in the 1990s: a Study of the 1991 Requisa of the Port of Veracruz. Master's thesis, Florida International University.Google Scholar
Huerta, Enrique. 1991a. La muerte de Serpover fue anunciada el sexenio pasado. Notiver (Veracruz), April 26: 1A.Google Scholar
Huerta, Enrique. 1991b. Contra Veracruz nadie. Notiver, April 22: 1A.Google Scholar
Huerta, Enrique. 1991c. No será tan fácil desaparecernos. Notiver, June 8: 1A.Google Scholar
LaBotz, Dan. 1992. Mask of Democracy: Labor Suppression in Mexico Today. Boston: South End Press.Google Scholar
Lobato Ortiz, Pompey. 1991. Zig zag. El Dictamen (Veracruz), April 22: 16A.Google Scholar
Meseguer, R. 1993. President, Industrial Association of the State of Veracruz. Author interview. Veracruz, May 7.Google Scholar
Mexican Investment Board. 1992. Executive Summary of the Privatization Summit. Dallas, December 3.Google Scholar
Morales Fernández, Honorio. 1988. Veracruz: cuatros veces heróica. Veracruz: Self-published.Google Scholar
Nelson, Joan, ed. 1990. Economic Crisis and Policy Choice: The Politics of Adjustment in the Third World. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Notiver (Veracruz). 1991. Justicia para los trabajadores. June 4: 1A.Google Scholar
Nuñez, Isse. 1991. Notas financieras. Novedades (Veracruz), August 5.Google Scholar
Oxhorn, Philip, and Pamela, K. Starr. 1999. Markets and Democracy in Latin America: Conflict or Convergence? Boulder: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Przeworski, Adam. 1995. Sustainable Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puertos, Mexicanos. 1992. Datos básicos del Puerto de Veracruz, Ver. Veracruz: Puertos Mexicanos.Google Scholar
Purcell, Susan Kaufman. 1973. Decision-Making in an Authoritarian Regime: Theoretical Implications from a Mexican Case Study. World Politics 26, 1: 28–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riker, William H. 1986. The Art of Political Manipulation. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Ros, Jaime. 1994. On the Political Economy of Market and State Reform in Mexico. in Smith et al. 1994. 297–323.Google Scholar
Sánchez Diéz, Jaime R. 2000. Estudio sobre reestructuración portuaria—impacto social puerto de Veracruz (México). Working Paper no. 135. Geneva: United Nations International Labor Organization.Google Scholar
Smith, William C., and Roberto Patricio, Korzeniewicz, eds. 1997. Politics, Social Change, and Economic Restructuring in Latin America. Coral Gables: North-South Center Press.Google Scholar
Smith, William C., Carlos, H. Acuña, and Eduardo, A. Gamarra, eds. 1994. Latin American Political Economy in the Age of Neoliheral Reform: Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives for the 1990s. Coral Gables: North-South Center Press.Google Scholar
Stallings, Barbara. 1992. International Influence on Economic Policy: Debt, Stabilization, and Structural Reform. in Haggard and Kaufman 1992. 41–88.Google Scholar
Teichman, Judith. 1995. Privatization and Political Change in Mexico. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Teichman, Judith. 1997. Neoliberalism and the Transformation of Mexican Authoritarianism. Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos 13, 1: 121–47.Google Scholar
Thacker, Strom C. 2000. Big Business, the State, and Free Trade: Constructing Coalitions in Mexico. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Torres, Guillermo. 1993. Director, Corporación Integral de Comercio Exterior (Cice). Author interview. Veracruz, March 24.Google Scholar
Torres Sánchez, José Manuel. 1991. Un paso a la modernización: la requisa del puerto de Veracruz. El Dictamen (Veracruz), June 4: 1A.Google Scholar
Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM). Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas. 2002. Ley de vias generales de comunicación. Accessed January 10, 2002. http:info4.juridicas.unam.mxijurefed70113.htm ?s=.Google Scholar
Valencia Rios, Alfonso. 1991a. A la altura del Tlc las terminales marítimas. El Dictamen (Veracruz), April 21: 1A.Google Scholar
Valencia Rios, Alfonso. 1991b. Se entrevista con agentes aduanales el vocal ejecutivo de Puertos Mexicanos. El Dictamen (Veracruz), April 2: 1A.Google Scholar
Valencia Rios, Alfonso. 1993. Veracruz, líder mundial en desestiba de contenedores. El Dictamen (Veracruz), February 26: 1A.Google Scholar
Waterbury, John. 1992. The Heart of the Matter? Public Enterprise and the Adjustment Process. in Haggard and Kaufman 1992. 182–220.Google Scholar
Weiss, John. 1996. Economic Policy Reform in Mexico: The Liberalism Experiment. In Dismantling the Mexican State? ed. Rob, Aitken, Nikki, Craske, Gareth, A. Jones, and David, E. Stansfield. New York: St. Martin's Press. 58–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zamudio, Alejandro Hernández. 1992. Síntesis histórica del puerto de Veracruz. Xalapa, Veracruz: Editora del Gobierno del Estado.Google Scholar
Zamudio, Victor M. 1993. Investment banker, Bancomext. Author interview. Veracruz, March 24.Google Scholar