Transcript US-Mexican Relations I - Troy University Spectrum

US-Mexican Relations I
“For better of for worse, Mexico
and the United States are
wedded to each other” (1).
Domínguez and Fernández

Key thesis of the text is that the US and
Mexico have become, and will continue to
be, more important to one another. The
late 1980s and the early 1990s were a
period of profound change in the
relationship of the two countries.
Context
The Long-term US-Mexican Relationship
 The “Lost Decade” of the 1980s
 US Neoliberalism in the post-Cold War Era

The Long-term US-Mexican Relationship
Texas in 1836 (annexed by US in 1845)
 1846: Mexican-American War
 1848: Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
 US intervention in the 1910s
 WWI offer from the Germans.
 WWII
 1940-1988: bargained negligence



Bilateral
little effort in improving or institutionalizing
these dealings
Basic Facts

2000 Census estimated 9 million persons
of Mexican birth in the US, 7 million were
not citizens.
Source: http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/stp-159/STP-159-Mexico.pdf

There were an estimated 6.2 million
unauthorized Mexican migrants in 2005,
or 56% of the unauthorized population.
Source: http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/61.pdf
Policy Options
Conflict
 Cooperation
 Bargained neglect

Mexico’s POV


Nationalism
Isolationism



autarchy
Wanting to avoid dependence
Focus on the unfortunate fact of having a
superpower as a neighbor, without recognizing
the potential inherent in that situation.

“poor Mexico so far from God and so close to the United
States” (Díaz on 11).
Castañeda: “I cannot believe any signs of good
intentions, sympathy, or moral considerations on the
part of the United States that could make them change
their basic attitude towards Mexico” (11).