Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Those responsible for making decisions usually formulate, restructure, reform or adjust Mexican foreign policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean based on the changes that take place on the chessboard at the international, regional and national levels. In this regard, the presidency of President Enrique Peña Nieto is an illuminating case study, since during his administration the Mexican government had to respond to a number of situations that arose in these three fields of action simultaneously. In line with these adaptations, over the period studied we recorded three cycles of diplomacy by Peña in the region: promotion, withdrawal, and containment.

To understand the relations between Mexico and Europe over the 2012-2018 period, it is necessary to take a number of contextual factors into account. While there was some continuity in terms of the Mexico and Europe’s foreign policy objectives, the issues on the agenda and the pace of interactions were determined by international, regional and domestic factors, to which they were more reactive than active. The article identifies three stages into which the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto may be divided, which far from presenting a homogeneous course were defined by contextual factors: the Mexico’s moment, the storm, and the negotiations to update the Mexico-European Union Global Agreement.

This article analyzes the resources and capabilities of Mexico’s foreign policy during the administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), in particular, the budget approved and exercised by the SRE, as well as its annual growth rate and the resources allocated to strategic issues. It also studies the powers of coordination of the SRE and the distribution of Mexico’s actions on the international stage. It also analyzes the evolution of diplomatic personnel and of the Mexican Foreign Service and, finally, examines foreign policy capabilities in two fundamental areas: consular assistance and resources devoted to international cooperation, and commercial, cultural and image promotion. The article concludes that there was a significant disinvestment of foreign policy resources and capacities during this administration: the budget fell by 13% in real dollar terms and decreased as a percentage of the total federal budget; coordination with the international actions of other ministries and public entities by the foreign ministry was very limited; Mexico’s presence in the world remained relatively unchanged and failed to reflect the importance of the country at the global level; there was a significant decrease in administrative personnel in the foreign ministry; consular resources were limited and, to a large extent, provided exceptionally by other ministries; finally, international cooperation, promotion and public diplomacy were only provided with limited resources for implementation in the second half of the government.

The objective of this article is to evaluate the foreign policy of Mexico during the Enrique Peña Nieto administration. The main argument is that this activity was deeply conditioned by internal and external factors in different stages of the term. The first part identifies the main foreign policy goals of the Peña administration. The second one divides the term into four stages: from 2012 to 2014, which develops the structural reforms that impacted Mexico's foreign policy; from 2014 to 2016 that analyzes domestic issues; from 2016 to mid-2018 when Donald Trump appeared on the political scene; and from mid-2018 until the end of the administration. The last part evaluates the fulfillment of the objectives set at the beginning of the administration.

This article aims to present a general overview of the foreign policy of the government of Enrique Peña Nieto with regard to North America, which is of importance due to the process of normalization of cooperation on security with Washington. Likewise, the defense of the relatively recent institutionalization of the economic relationship with the United States and Canada is also significant. To address these issues, a number of analytical concepts that will serve to anchor the narrative are briefly reviewed; the second section examines Mexico’s relationship with the United States, focusing on the two aforementioned thematic areas. The third section briefly reviews the relationship with Canada; the fourth deals succinctly with Mexico’s policy towards North America as a whole and, as a conclusion, presents a brief statement on the future of the region.

In recent decades, the south, east, and southeast of Asia have seen extraordinary growth and a great capacity for technological innovation, a reason why Mexican governments have seem it as a potential region for the diversification of their economic relations. However, taking an overall perspective, Mexico has failed to capitalize on greater business opportunities or on deepening its diplomatic ties. These challenges marked the beginning of the presidency of President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), who was efficient in “managing” international relations, without providing added value in achieving his original foreign policy objectives, in a context of internal and external volatility.

The purpose of this article is to analyze, since the arrival of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States, the changes in the relations between Mexico and the United States in three policy areas: security, migration and trade. The article is based on a concept of Dahlian or relational power where: “power is the ability of A to get B to do something he or she would otherwise not do”

The article analyzes the participation of the Mexican government in different initiatives in the UN and the OAS. After a brief summary of the most salient features of multilateralism, the paper examines Mexico's activity at the UN on a number issues that influence global governance, consistent with the goal of making Mexico an actor with global responsibility. Subsequently, it addresses Mexico’s policy regarding the Group of Independent Expert Investigators in the country, and the case of Venezuela, at the OAS. It demonstrates how the defense of values such as democracy and human rights directly affect the internal scenario, provoking criticism of the foreign and domestic policy of the Mexican government. 

This article analyzes the salient features of the 2012-2018 administration, during which political institutions entered crisis and the country faced unprecedented challenges in its relationship with the United States. It examines the conditions under which Mexico’s foreign policy, both internal and external, was implemented, and its impact on political decisions. As a result, it divides the administration into three parts on the basis of the major events that defined it, before describing in the final section the activity of the president-elect in the months prior to taking office.

This text explores the why and the how of the main decisions taken by Mexico with regard to the Middle East and the Arab world during the presidency of President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018). Two arguments are put forward: 1) internal factors largely determined foreign policy discourse and practice towards that region; 2) there was continuity in the principal guidelines and objectives with respect to the previous administration; above all, there were changes in the use of foreign policy instruments, as well as in the implementation of decisions. The examination of these continuities and changes is developed around two interdependent agendas: the economic and the political.