In his 1996 classic, “The Clash of Civilizations,” Samuel Huntington characterized Mexico as a “torn country” — a condition produced by the Westernizing instincts of its elites pulling against the weight of its cultural heritage. Today, however, Mexico is not torn by internal discord, its drug violence notwithstanding. Rather, it is trapped — caught between dynamic global trends washing over Latin America on one hand, and the dogged political realities of North America on the other. In heralding the end of trade barriers between Mexico, the United States and Canada, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) cast modern Mexico’s […]
Mexico’s Arrested Development
