Mexico’s Struggle with Development between Global Compromises and National Development Plans

Abstract

This article focuses on Mexico's struggle with development-reflected in the country's continuing persistent poverty, inequality, lack of inclusion, and social mobility-as Mexico finds itself caught between global compromises (the Millennium Development Goals, 2000-15; the Sustainable Development Goals, 2015-30) on one hand and National Development Plans (NDP) on the other. I analyze three consecutive NDP since the transition to democracy in 2000 and look ahead to announced changes in the "Project for the Nation 2018-24." I also take stock of how international and national organizations have monitored and evaluated these issues. Doing so enables us to identify, problematize, and reflect on where Mexico is heading with this particular struggle. It has produced, I argue, a certain dissonance or even myth concerning development entangled between grand documents mirroring global compromises and a rather bleak reality when transformed into domestic policies for development.

Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Social Development Index

“…While Mexico has become a developed country, more than half of their inhabitants lives in a state of precariousness and lack of inclusion conditions and social differences are becoming more acute (29). For decades, social development in health, education, housing, basic services, food, and work, as well as social protection, security, and violence reduction have been unequally distributed in the region (30)(31)(32). These circumstances have contributed to modify some health conditions in Mexican men and women with consequences in many periods of life, even beyond future generations (33)(34)(35)(36).…”

The Political Dimension of Cash Transfers in Latin America and Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Comparative Perspective

“…This point suggests that the theoretical approach that supports this category of social grants is far from being able to guarantee the population a social safety net as a basic right (de Britto ). An interesting case in point is Mexico, where the new President Lòpez Obrador has abolished the CCT program Prospera on the basis of a political discourse that emphasizes the failures of Prospera 's targeting and the need to introduce universal schemes to tackle the roots of the poverty problem (Villanueva Ulfgard ).…”

La implementación del ODS 16 y los compromisos de la cooperación internacional. ¿Hacia dónde vamos con la paz, la justicia y las instituciones en América Latina?

“…Sin embargo, los cambios disruptivos que se han producido por la Cuarta Revolución Industrial, basada en la automatización y la inteligencia artificial (IA), plantean enormes retos a las instituciones políticas que sufren por una lentitud inherente respecto de los ajustes necesarios y la asimilación que se hace desde los gobiernos. Así, hay un desfase entre la aceleración vertiginosa en materia de tecnologías y servicios, por un lado, y reformas, programas y medidas, por el otro, que tienen como objetivo fomentar el desarrollo, pero en ocasiones se produce un fenómeno que denomino de "mito-desarrollo": aparentemente hay avances, pero en realidad no se logra una mejora sustancial en la calidad de vida, y en derechos humanos y sostenibilidad para la mayoría de la gente (Villanueva Ulfgard, 2019). Unida a la crisis de la democracia en la región, se plantea la duda de qué se está haciendo en realidad.…”