Neoliberalism Revisited NEOLIBERALISM REVISITED

I V Neoliberalism Revisited NEOLIBERALISM REVISITED Economic Restructuring and Mexico's Political Future edited by GERARD 0 OTERO Simon Fraser University WestviewPress A Division of Portions of Chapters 1 and 12 by Gerardo Otero are from Gerardo Otero, "Mexico's Political Fu- Anthropology, 32(3):316-339 of Sociology and ' Canadian Review ture(s) in a Globalizing Economy, than Sociology and Anthropology Association. Reprinted with permission of the Cana Portions of Chapter 9 by Lynn Stephen are taken from Lynn Stephen, "Women in Mexico's Popu-Latin lar Movements: Survival Strategies Against Ecological and Economic impoverishment:' Perspectives, 19(l):73_96, copyright © 1992 by Sage Publications. Reprinted by permis- American sion of Sage Publications, Inc. All rights reserved, printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reform or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo- produced or transmitted in any copy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright © 1996 by Westview Press, Inc., A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Published in 1996 in the United States of America by WeStview Press, Inc., ssoo Central Avenue, Boulder, Colorado 80301-2877, and in the United Kingdom by WestvieW Press, 12 Hid's Copse Road, Cumnor Hill, Oxford 0X2 9JJ. A CIP catalog record of this book is available from the Library of Congress. Hardcover: ISBN 0813324408 paperback: ISBN 08I332441 6 S The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for printed Library Materials Z39.48-1984. 5 4 3 2 1 10 9 8 7 6 Contents List of Tables vii Acknowledgments ix 1 Neoliberal Reform and Politics in Mexico: An Overview, Gerardo Otero 1 2 NAFTA and the Struggle for Neoliberalism: Mexico's Elusive Quest for First World Status, Gustavo del Castillo V. 27 3 The Debt Crisis and Economic Restructuring: Prospects for Mexican Agriculture, Marilyn Gates 43 4 From Export-Oriented to Import-Oriented Industrialization: Changes in Mexico's Manufacturing Sector, 1988-1994, Enrique Dussel Peters 63 5 Mexico's "Old" and "New" Maquiladora Industries: Contrasting Approaches to North American Integration, Gary Gereffi 85 6 The Mexican Political Pretransition in Comparative Perspective, IlánSemo 107 7 The Private Sector and Political Regime Change in Mexico, Francisco Valdés Ugalde 127 8 Economic Restructuring, State-Labor Relations, and the Transformation of Mexican Corporatism, Judith Teichman 149 V Contents vi 9 Democracy for Whom? Women's Grassroots Political Activism in the 1990s, Mexico City and Chiapas, S 167 Lynn Stephen 10 Rural Reforms and the Zapatista Rebellion: Chiapas, 1988-1995, 187 Neil Harvey ii Crossing Borders: Labor Internationalism in the Era of NAFTA, 209 Barry Carr 12 Mexico's Economic and Political Futures, 233 Gerardo Otero 247 List of Acronyms 255 About the Editor and the Contributors 259 About the Book 261 Index Tables 2.1 Sectoral contributions to GNP at 1960 prices 28 4.1 Main macroeconomic indicators, 1980-1994 66 4.2 General indicators of Mexico's manufacturing sector, 1980-1994 74 4.3 Typology of Mexico's manufacturing sector 76 5.1 Textiles, apparel, and footwear exports into the United States under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), 1990-1993 97 6.1 Vote for PRI as percent of total vote in elections for federal deputies, 1961-1994 112 7.1 National business organizations and their position toward the political regime 138 10.1 The social sector in Chiapas in 1988 190 10.2 Distribution of coffee producers by plot size, Chiapas and Mexico 192 12.1 Mexico's future scenarios 239 vii Acknowledgments The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa and the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (JOHE) in Quebec provided me with funds toward the editorial costs to produce this book. I am in- debted to Paz Buttedahl of IDRC and Penny Houghton of IOHE for their kind support. The chapters in this book have been revised numerous times, and for this I thank my diligent and patient contributors. In the process several people have offered generous and constructive criticism, particularly Leigh Pyne, University of Wisconsin at Madison, and James Wessman, State University of New York at Albany, who acted as external reviewers of previous versions. Barbara Elling- ton of Westview Press has used her keenly trained, eyes and mind to make use- ful suggestions for revision. She has been very positive and supportive during this process. I greatly appreciate the critical readings of earlier versions of my introductory and concluding chapters by friends and colleagues, and I exoner- ate them from remaining limitations: Bill Canak, David Vern Carruthers, Hum- berto Carton de Grammorit, Marilyn Gates, Gary Gereffi, Gordon Laxer, Ron Newton, Ilán Semo, Peter Singelmann, Judith Teichman, and Francisco Valdes Ugalde. Several people at Simon Fraser University helped me in many ways. I am particularly grateful to Annita Mahoney, who entered numerous revisions of the manuscript. Students who were my research assistants at various times also gave me valuable aid. In chronological order, I thank Dylan Von Gunten, Mar- cel Vanderslyus, Kerry Preibisch, Robyn Adamache, Steffanie Scott, Danielle Scott, and Brian Green. My wife, Paty, and our sons, Alex and Rodrigo, have provided me with love and emotional support, and I thus dedicate my efforts to them. Gerardo Otero ix 1 Neoliberal Reform and Politics in Mexico: An Overview Gerardo Otero Mexican government and civil society face enormous challenges brought about by neoliberal economic restructuring at a time when democratic political transition is simultaneously at the forefront of national and international agendas. After the 1982 debt crisis in Mexico and the introduction of neoliberal reforms, a critical dilemma came to the fore: Would the process of economic restructuring involve a more equitable redistribution of income and thus be compat- ible with 'a sustained transition to political democracy? Although it is hard to establish that income redistribution is a prerequisite for a democratic transition, it should be clear that without such economic reform an authoritarian and repressive political regime would be more likely to emerge than a democracy.' Part of the dilemma for the Mexican regime is that it confronts nearly in- surmountable international pressures to' continue neoliberal economic restructuring. These pressures have been exacerbated as the world economy be- comes increasingly global. The implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on 1 January 1994, linking Mexico with Canada and the United States, further strengthens neoliberal ideology and the forces of global capitalism in Mexico. Canada and the United States are both members of the so-called Group of 7, or G7, which also includes Japan, Germany, Italy, France, and the United King- dom. Leaders of G7 countries meet annually to try to coordinate their macroeconomic policies in order to promote economic growth and stability on a world scale. Furthermore, in March 1994 Mexico accepted membership in the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD). OECD is a broader group of twenty-five wealthy nations that, promotes economic liber- alism. Mexico's new status in the world economy has put it on the same play- ing field with its northern neighbors. Gerardo Otero Yet this does not mean necessarily that the players are of similar stature. The fact that Mexico's social and political organizations are more diverse than those of Canada and the United States was highlighted dramatically by the Indian peasant rebellion in Chiapas led by the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Na- cional (EZLN, or Zapatista National Liberation Army), which erupted on the same day that NAFTA was inaugurated. Although EZLN was a formerly un- known group, its military action put Mexico in the spotlight. It seemed con- tradictory that in a country that was gaining First World status there could exist the kind of gros social and political inequalities that could bring about a violent uprising. The Chiapas uprising was but the most radical expression of discontent with growing inequality and lack of democracy in Mexico. The society and polity could not adjust quickly enough to match the swift pace with which radical changes were being introduced in the Mexican economy to get it in tune with the global economy and implement North American economic integration.. Such changes involved a major shift in the development model that Mexico had followed since the 1930s of high protectionism, government deficits, and state intervention. In the 1980s the Mexican state moved to introduce a series of measures to open the economy to foreign trade and investment and to re- duce the role of the state in the economy substantially by massive privatiza- tions of state firms, cutting most subsidies, and giving a free rein to market forces. Organizations in civil society, however, have increased their demand for social and political changes, which have come at a much slower pace. This book brings together scholars from anthropology, economics, history, political science, and sociology, all of whom take interdisciplinary approaches in their investigation of the social and political implications of neoliberalism in Mexico. Some chapters emphasize the economic or the political realities of various dimensions of Mexican society, but all connect those realities

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