
Mexico
What Everyone Needs to Know (R)
Roderic Ai Camp(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 24. November 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
216 pages
978-0-19-977387-9 (ISBN)
Description
Today most would agree that Mexico and the United States have never been closer-that the fates of the two republics are inextricably intertwined. It has become an intimate part of life in almost every community in the United States, through immigration, imported produce, business ties, or illegal drugs. They are less neighbors than siblings; no matter the differences, they are intricately a part of each others' existence.
In this outstanding contribution to Oxford's acclaimed series, What Everyone Needs to Know (R), Roderic Ai Camp gives readers the most essential information about America's sister republic to the south. Camp organizes chapters around major themes-security and violence, economic development, foreign relations, the colonial heritage, and more. He asks questions that take us beyond the headlines: Why does Mexico have so much drug violence? What was the impact of the North American Free
Trade Agreement? How democratic is Mexico? Who were Benito Juarez and Pancho Villa? What is the PRI (the Institutional Revolutionary Party)? The answers are sometimes surprising. Despite ratification of NAFTA, for example, Mexico has fallen behind Brazil and Chile in economic growth and rates of poverty. Camp
explains that lack of labor flexibility, along with low levels of transparency and high levels of corruption, make Mexico less competitive than some other Latin American countries. The drug trade, of course, enhances corruption and feeds on poverty; approximately 450,000 Mexicans now work in this sector. But Camp reveals that President Calderon's recent assault on narcotics smugglers-and the violence resulting from it-may have actually lessened the government's control of parts of the
country and national institutions.
Brisk, clear, and informed, Mexico: What Everyone Needs To Know (R) offers a valuable primer for anyone interested in the past, present, and future of America's neighbor to the South.
In this outstanding contribution to Oxford's acclaimed series, What Everyone Needs to Know (R), Roderic Ai Camp gives readers the most essential information about America's sister republic to the south. Camp organizes chapters around major themes-security and violence, economic development, foreign relations, the colonial heritage, and more. He asks questions that take us beyond the headlines: Why does Mexico have so much drug violence? What was the impact of the North American Free
Trade Agreement? How democratic is Mexico? Who were Benito Juarez and Pancho Villa? What is the PRI (the Institutional Revolutionary Party)? The answers are sometimes surprising. Despite ratification of NAFTA, for example, Mexico has fallen behind Brazil and Chile in economic growth and rates of poverty. Camp
explains that lack of labor flexibility, along with low levels of transparency and high levels of corruption, make Mexico less competitive than some other Latin American countries. The drug trade, of course, enhances corruption and feeds on poverty; approximately 450,000 Mexicans now work in this sector. But Camp reveals that President Calderon's recent assault on narcotics smugglers-and the violence resulting from it-may have actually lessened the government's control of parts of the
country and national institutions.
Brisk, clear, and informed, Mexico: What Everyone Needs To Know (R) offers a valuable primer for anyone interested in the past, present, and future of America's neighbor to the South.
Reviews / Votes
"A timely, valuable asset for understanding an important, emerging nation." - BooklistMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 208 mm
Width: 139 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
234 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-977387-9 (9780199773879)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Person
Roderic Ai Camp is Philip M. McKenna Professor of the Pacific Rim at Claremont McKenna College and serves on the Advisory Board of the Mexican Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in teh Smithsonian Institution. His books include Politics in Mexico and The Metamorphosis of Leadership in a Democratic Mexico.
Author
Philip M. McKenna Professor of the Pacific RimPhilip M. McKenna Professor of the Pacific Rim, Claremont McKenna College
Content
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; POLITICAL MAP OF MEXICO; LIST OF TABLES; INTRODUCTION; PART I: MAJOR ISSUES FACING MEXICO TODAY; PART II: HISTORICAL LEGACIES; PART III: MEXICO'S PRESENT AND FUTURE; CHRONOLOGY OF MEXICAN PRESIDENTS, 1964-2012; SELECTED SUGGESTED READINGS IN ENGLISH; INDEX

