Mexico in the New Internet World

Abstract

Global and local patterns of Internet diffusion present Mexico with a major opportunity to help realize its democratic and foreign-policy goals of a more “Global Mexico.” To accomplish this, it needs to focus on key objectives for using the Internet as a global media, and meet key challenges to access, security, learning and education, governance, and diplomacy, such as adapting to the democratization of diplomacy in the digital age. In this paper, I argue for what should be the principal aim of policy for Mexico related to the Internet as one of the most significant international technological developments of the twenty-first century. I then explain why this goal is so important by considering Mexico’s place in what I have called the “New Internet World.” Finally, I will outline the major challenges to achieving this aim. This text was prepared for delivery at a conference, entitled “Global Mexico: Interests and Principles of Foreign Policy,” organized by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico and the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics and the Legal Research Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The conference was held from 2 to 3 May, 2016 at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Mexico City.