This article places Mexican migration in the context of the longue durée of Mexican-U.S. political and economic relations. We argue that 21st-century migration not only has its roots in the 19th century, but very much resembles its early predecessor. The latest wave of migration is just the most recent iteration of a process of hegemonic dominance over Mexico, a process that has been for the most part ongoing since the late 1800s. It continues to be rooted in labor migration caused by unequal economic policy between the two countries. The paper builds upon the empire theory of migration literature in lieu of the neutral-seeming ''natural'' ''push-pull'' of markets and living conditions or social capital theories, and provides a more power-driven analysis stressing hegemony and domination in which the United States exerts control over Mexico for the purposes of exploiting cheap labor and raw materials.
The dominant discourse in the United States regarding Mexico has long painted it as an unruly place and its citizens as inferior. Most recently this discourse has centered on the drug trade and the violence associated with it. No one would disagree that Mexico has problems of drug-related violence and crime, but the U.S. discourse distorts and misrepresents the country. Its purpose is to provide justification for economic paternalism and a relationship that can only be called imperialism as the United States has sought increased capital penetration in that country. Hace mucho que el discurso dominante en los Estados Unidos con respecto a México pinta al país como lugar ingobernable y sus ciudadanos como inferiores. Más recientemente este discurso se centra en el narcotráfico y su violencia. Nadie niega que México tiene problemas de narcoviolencia y crimen, pero el discurso estadounidense distorsiona y falsifica al país. Su propósito queda en darle justificación al paternalismo económico y a una relación que solo puede llamarse imperialismo en cuanto los Estados Unidos ha buscado mayor penetración de capital en ese país.
Entre los rasgos estructurales que caracterizan la precaria situación fiscal de México encontramos la reducción del aparato productivo del sector público, que de enfrentarse y tomarse medidas profundas serían de la mayor importancia para detener la caída del Producto Interno Bruto en condiciones de inestabilidad económica global, además de impulsar al resto del sector industrial manufacturero. El centralismo fiscal, las bajas tasas de crecimiento económico y el reducido gasto gubernamental no generan las condiciones para llevar a cabo acciones descentralizadoras más profundas que alienten el desarrollo regional en condiciones de equidad y sustentabilidad.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.