| Summary: | This thesis examines the political economy of Mexican trade policy in the administration of Miguel de la Madrid (1982-1988). The central question focuses on the reasons for and the conditions under which Mexico decided to liberalize its trade regime in the early 1980s. The study contends that Mexico implemented trade policy reforms because of a combination of five international and domestic factors. The first variable - the 1982 economic crisis - proves to be the catalyst for policy reform. Without this external shock, the Mexican policymakers might not have taken the decision to change so fundamentally the post-Second World War development strategy. The second determinant examines the international, especially US, pressures for economic policy change. It is argued that these pressures reinforced and helped speed up a liberalization process that the Mexican government itself had already initiated. The third factor explores the global resurgence of neoliberalism and the transmission of ideas. It is maintained that neoliberal ideas were carried from the international to the domestic arena through international education and institutions via an epistemic community. This paradigm shift globally proved to be a legitimizing factor for Mexican policymakers. The fourth variable is the institutional arrangements of the Mexican state. This factor conferred the Mexican decision makers with a certain degree of autonomy in the policymaking process, making the individual policymakers themselves important. Finally, the fifth factor examines the key policymakers and their perceptions, values and experiences. These policymakers were predisposed toward economic liberalization through a change in their professional and educational socialization experiences. All of the five variables are mutually dependent and reinforcing factors that best explain why Mexico liberalized its trade regime in the 1980s.
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