The Financial Constraint on Relative Autonomy: the State and Capital Accumulation in Mexico, 1940–82

Abstract

The activities of the state are widely regarded as a central feature in the remarkably rapid process of economic expansion experienced by Mexico in the 25 years after the outbreak of World War II, and thus must also be seen as such in the imbalance that has emerged over the last 15 years. In a mixed economy such as Mexico, where the state does not directly control production and the surplus accrues fundamentally to the private sector, the finance of these activities — particularly public investment — proves a significant constraint on the ‘relative autonomy of the state’, reflecting as it does the relationship between state and civil society in the sphere of circulation. Extensive state intervention in the process of capital accumulation during the period of industrialisation is common to the experience of Latin America as a whole,1 but in Mexico the scale and scope of this intervention appear to have been greater than elsewhere. This has become the central theme of political debate in recent years. It also provides a significant case to be examined in the light of current theoretical discussions as to the relative autonomy and the fiscal crisis of the state in capitalist economies.