NAFTA and the Possibility of an Alternative Development.pdf

NAFTA and the Possibility of an Alternative Development Strategy in Mexico Petri Minkkinen Ibero-American Center Renvall Institute P.O. Box 59 (Unioninkatu 38 A) SF-00014 University of Helsinki Tel. +358-9-191 23799 Fax. +358-9-191 23800 E-mail. petri.minkkinen@helsinki.fi Prepared for delivery at the 1998 meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, The Palmer House Hilton Hotel, Chicago, Illinois, September 24-26, 1998. A Draft, comments most welcome. Introduction Neoliberal restructuration has been the dominant current in the globalizing political economy from the early 1980s. At the late 1990s, many neoliberal ideals have been transformed into ‘paradigmatic’ practices within national states, macroregional entities and international economic organizations. By and large this means that the liberalization of trade and capital movements, deregulation, privatisation of industries and services, and a general trend toward individualisation of social practices has become fashionable at all these ‘levels’. In the North American economic area, and especially in Mexico, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA, TLC) is both a symbol and a locomotive of these changes. Even if the neoliberal program has been adopted by most governments, this dominant current and its practices are by no means uncontested. However, a majority of economists and politicians believe that this current brings in practical realism and understanding of economic determinants whereas forms of economic nationalism and public (state) regulation were based on wrong understanding of economy and human nature. In practice this has meant depolitization of economy, in a liberal sense that autonomous and self-regulating economy functions in optimal way only if public regulat