Introduction: Capturing the Dilemmas of Modernity and Tradition in Mexico

Abstract

This Special Issue examines the dilemmas of modernity, modernization, and tradition in Mexico from a variety of disciplinary perspectives covering foreign policy, cultural diplomacy and nation image creation, security politics, civil society participation in domestic and foreign policy making, congruence/dissonance in the implementation of global and national development goals, poverty reduction strategies, education reforms and global education models, urban growth, and environmental concerns. The contributors identify and analyze events associated with the concept of disjuncture and how it has produced fragmented and confusing realities. Implicitly or explicitly, each author discusses the "push" and "pull" factors embedded in the forces of tradition and modernity that influence the policy-making processes and occasionally give rise to disjunctures in specific areas. How do these disjunctures manifest themselves empirically and conceptually? If they seem to be produced and reproduced over and over again, what can be done to break this pattern? These are some of the underlying questions facing Mexico and its current transition in political history.

Proactive, Responsible, and in Good Faith: Network Diplomacy in Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs

“…MFA officials and diplomats became trained in new jargons and behavioral repertoires that corresponded with Western international organizations, principles, and values. Successive governments under the presidents Ernesto Zedillo (1994–2000), Vicente Fox (2000–2006), Felipe Calderón (2006–2012), and Enrique Peña Nieto (2012–2018) followed the path of neoliberal economic and political globalization with deregulations, the breakup of monopolies, and structural reforms (Villanueva Ulfgard & Villanueva, ), like many emerging economies in other regions. Over time, the initial display of readiness to take on multilateral diplomacy on a wider scale matured and evolved into a distinct presence in international affairs.…”