Local Governance in Mexico: The Cases of Two Historic-centre Partnerships

Abstract

This paper contends that the British understanding of governance as networks has travelled and discusses the extent to which it can be applied in the Mexican context. The paper comes at a time when Rod Rhodes, one of the first inventors of the concept, reflects on how governance is now understood after a decade of research, including its potential to be transferred beyond the British context. The paper begins by underlining the relevance of Mexico's political economy, with particular regard to the neo-liberal and democratic processes experienced over the past 25 years. The next section discusses the three main premises of governance (fragmentation, networks and self-government) and the way they have been questioned by two criticisms significant to this paper: the role of government as having a strong interventionist character and the threat posed by the classical concept of governance to democratic accountability. These criticisms are relevant for understanding the Mexican reality and the implementation of governance through public—private partnerships. The third section develops the research fieldwork, arguing that the premises on fragmentation and networks are relevant to the Mexican case when considered within the context of the historic-centre regeneration partnerships of Querétaro and San Luis Potosí. In presenting the findings, the paper argues that the applicability of the concept reinforces the aforementioned criticisms, underlining their general relevance when used for comparative analysis.