Abstract
From recent reexaminations of the relationship between politics and public policy, it has been found that the structure of public policy produces its own politics, just as politics produces its own type of public policy . The argument is that public policy generates its own incentives and resources and provides actors with information and cues that encourage their political views and convictions, but they also influence other actors – including political opposition groups, interest groups, and the masses – to articulate their own alternatives more accurately and push back, sometimes threatening public policies that appeared to have enjoyed a broad political consensus.
Recent developments in Mexico do suggest that the public policies of the last three decades have indeed produced significant political consequences – and resistance – all of which now threaten the sustainability of the public policies of democratization and liberalization that the country has pursued over the last three decades. The main political consequence is observable in the electoral results of 2018. The last general election caused a major change in the political and policy alignment of the country because the winning party of the presidency and both chambers, The National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) , is a relatively new Leftist political party that ran against the country’s status quo.
To explore these feedback loop dynamics and the resulting shift in the policy environment we focus on energy reform precisely because it came to be identified as the last (and major) step in what had been a steady pursuit of economic liberalization – or, as MORENA put it, the ultimate symbol of neoliberal politics that had to be reversed.
Tony Payan, Ph.D., is the Françoise and Edward Djerejian Fellow for Mexico Studies and director of the Mexico Center at the Baker Institute. He is also a professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. He has a doctorate degree in international relations from Georgetown University and his research focuses primarily on border studies, particularly the US-Mexico border, border governance , border flows and immigration, as well as border security and organized crime . Email: tony.payan@rice.edu.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (2012). Pacto por México; at: https://embamex.sre.gob.mx/bolivia/images/pdf/REFORMAS/pacto_por_mexico.pdf (8 January 2019).
- 2.
This is a general observation, as Mexico has received various rankings on both scores by different organizations. On politics, Varieties of Democracy shows substantive progress on certain components of Mexico’s liberal democracy (see https://www.v-dem.net/en/news/liberal-democracy-mexico/), but others show a deterioration on many scores, including The Economist , which labels Mexico a flawed democracy (https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/01/31/democracy-continues-its-disturbing-retreat), Freedom House , which ranks Mexico as only partly free (https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/mexico), and Transparency International , which places Mexico 29th out of 100 countries, primarily due to high levels of corruption (https://www.transparency.org/country/MEX#), as well as The World Justice Project, which downgrades Mexico on rule of law issues (https://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/documents/WJP-ROLI-2018-June-Online-Edition_0.pdf). On economic freedom, Mexico has been ranked as number 60 out of 177, indicating that progress has been made, but there is much more to be done (https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/economic_freedom/) (All accessed on 8 January 2019).
- 3.
Centro de Estudios Sociales y de Opinión Pública (2008). “Iniciativa de Reforma en Materia Energética” (April).
- 4.
“Make or Break for Peña Nieto: Mexico’s President Should Push for a Bolder Energy Reform .” 2013. The Economist (23 November). See at: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2013/11/23/make-or-break-for-pena-nieto (8 January 2019). Time magazine showed Mr. Peña Nieto on its 13 February 2014 cover with the headline reading Saving Mexico.
- 5.
There is a demonstrable link between economic growth and energy. This is certainly the case in Mexico. It is sufficient to examine the link between Mexican power production and manufacturing and the Texas natural gas that fuels it. See Travis Bradford (2017) Adrian Duhalt (2018).
- 6.
- 7.
In a poll conducted in May 2018 Consulta Mitofsky also asked: “Do you believe that the next president of the republic must carry out a complete change, some change, or no change?” Around 58% of Mexicans answered that the next president must carry out a complete change and 26% expressed their desire for some change. Only a little over 6% believed that the country should stay the course. See Consulta Mitofsky (2018) .
- 8.
Article 19 . “Mexico and Central America.” See: https://www.article19.org/regional-office/mexico-and-central-america/ (8 September 2018).
- 9.
Etellekt (2016) .
- 10.
See WikiLeaks at: https://search.wikileaks.org/plusd/ (8 September 2018).
References
Article 19 (2018). “Mexico and Central America”; at: https://www.article19.org/regional-office/mexico-and-central-america/ (8 September 2018).
Axelrad, Lee (1993). “NAFTA in the Context of Mexican Economic Liberalization”, in: Berkeley Journal of International Law, 11,2: 201–222.
Bingham, Lord (2007). “The Rule of Law”, in: The Cambridge Law Journal, 66,1 (March 2007): 67–85.
Burstein, Paul (2003). “The Impact of Public Opinion on Public Policy: A Review and an Agenda”, in: Political Research Quarterly, 56,1 (March 1): 21–40.
Calderón Hinojosa, Felipe (2015). Los retos que enfrentamos: Los problemas de México y las políticas públicas para resolverlos (Mexico City: Debate).
Calderón, Laura (2017). “Huachicoleros on the Rise in Mexico”, Justice in Mexico Project (20 May); at: https://justiceinmexico.org/huachicoleros-rising-mexico/ (3 September 2018).
Capano, Giliberto; Howlett, Michael (2009). “The Determinants of Policy Change: Theoretical Challenges”, in: Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 11: 1.
Centro de Estudios Sociales y de Opinión Pública (2008). Iniciativa de Reforma en Materia Energética (April).
Clifton, Judith (2000). “On the Political Consequences of Privatization: The Case of Teléfonos de México”, in: Bulletin of Latin American Research, 19: 63–79.
Consulta Mitofsky (2017). Así Es México 2017; at: http://consultamitofsky.com.mx/Publicaciones/AsiesMexico2017/AsiesMexico_2017.pdf (4 September 2018).
Consulta Mitofsky (2018). “Evaluación 23 Trimestres de Gobierno de Enrique Peña Nieto”; at: http://consulta.mx/index.php/estudios-e-investigaciones/evaluacion-de-gobierno/item/1077-evaluacion-23-trimestres-mexico (2 September 2018).
Cossío Díaz, José Ramón; Cossío Barragán, José Ramón (2017), “The New Energy System in the Mexican Constitution” (Houston: Rice University, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy); at: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/files/68d55ed8/MEX-pub-RuleofLaw_JR2-042417.pdf (8 January 2019).
Etellekt (2016). “Situación actual y perspectivas de sobre el robo de hidrocarburos en México 2016: Reporte Sectorial” (15 July) (Mexico City: Etellekt).
Government of Mexico (2013). Energy Reform Summary 2013; at: https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/164370/Resumen_de_la_explicacion_de_la_Reforma_Energetica11_1_.pdf (8 January 2019).
Government of Mexico (2018). Rondas; at: https://rondasmexico.gob.mx/esp/rondas/ (8 January 2019).
Heinle, Kimberly; Rodríguez Ferreira, Octavio; Shirk, David A. (2017). “Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis through 2016” (San Diego: University of San Diego); at: https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017_DrugViolenceinMexico.pdf (4 September 2018).
International Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, (2016). Mexico Energy Outlook (Paris: OECD, IEA); at: https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/MexicoEnergyOutlook.pdf (4 September 2018).
Kehoe, Timothy J. (2010). “Why Have Economic Reforms in Mexico Not Generated Growth?” (Minneapolis: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis); at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.194.1391&rep=rep1&type=pdf (4 September 2018).
Kehoe, Timothy J.; Hanson, Gordon H. (2012). “Understanding Mexico’s Economic Underperformance” (Washington, D.C.: The Regional Migration Study Group); at: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/mexico-economic-underperformance (4 September 2018).
Le Clercq Ortega, Juan Antonio; Rodríguez Sánchez Lara, Gerardo (2017). GII-2017 Global Impunity Index (Puebla: Universidad de las Américas Puebla); at: https://www.udlap.mx/cesij/files/IGI-2017_eng.pdf (3 September 2018).
National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL) (2016). “Medición de la pobreza”; at: https://www.coneval.org.mx/Medicion/Paginas/PobrezaInicio.aspx (2 September 2018).
National Hydrocarbons Commission (2018). Bóveda Nacional de Contratos [National Energy Contracts Archive]; at: https://www.gob.mx/cnh/articulos/boveda-digital (2 September 2018).
Okeowo, Alexis (2017). “The Grass-Price Protests Gripping Mexico”, in: The New Yorker (24 January); at: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-gas-price-protests-gripping-mexico (3 September 2018).
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (2015). “Inequality and Income” (Paris: OECD); at: http://www.oecd.org/social/inequality.htm (2 September 2018).
Payan, Tony; Correa Cabrera, Guadelupe (2014). Energy Reform and Security in Northeastern Mexico. Issue Brief No. 05.06.14 (Houston: Rice University, Baker Institute for Public Policy); at: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/files/21e1a8c8/BI-Brief-050614-Mexico_EnergySecurity.pdf (3 September 2018).
Payan, Tony; Correa Cabrera, Guadelupe (2016). Security, the Rule of Law, and Energy Reform in Mexico (Houston: Rice University, Baker Institute for Public Policy); at: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/research_document/89cb3282/MEX-pub-RuleofLaw_PC-121316.pdf (3 September 2018).
Pierson, Paul (1993). “When Effect Becomes Cause: Policy Feedback and Political Change”, in: World Politics, 45,4: 595–628.
Rubio, Luis (2017). “El TLCAN un instrumento de política interna”, in: Proceso (21 November); at: http://luisrubio.mx/wp/?p=5647 (7 January 2019).
Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (2012). Pacto por México; at: https://embamex.sre.gob.mx/bolivia/images/pdf/REFORMAS/pacto_por_mexico.pdf (8 January 2019).
Transparency International (2017). Corruption Perceptions Index: 2017; at: https://www.transparency.org/country/MEX (2 September 2018).
Transparency International (2018). Corruption Perceptions Index: 2018; at: https://www.transparency.org/country/MEX.
Vice, Margaret; Chwe, Hanys (2017). “Mexicans Are Downbeat about Their Country’s Direction” (Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center); see at: http://www.pewglobal.org/2017/09/14/mexicans-are-downbeat-about-their-countrys-direction/ (2 September 2018).
Wilson, Carter A. (2013). Public Policy: Continuity and Change, 2nd Edn. (Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press): 391–402.
World Justice Project (2017–2018). Rule of Law Index: Mexico; at: http://data.worldjusticeproject.org/ (2 September 2018).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Payan, T. (2020). Reversal of Fortunes: Changes in the Public Policy Environment and Mexico’s Energy Reform. In: Le Clercq, J., Abreu Sacramento, J. (eds) Rebuilding the State Institutions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31314-2_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31314-2_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-31313-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-31314-2
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)