The International Relations of Sub-State Governments in Federal Systems: The Mexican Case

Abstract

The paper analyzes, in comparative perspective, sub-State diplomacy in Mexico vis-a-vis other federal countries. It aims to answer three questions: 1) What are the levels or degrees of sub-State diplomacy in Mexico? 2) Which variables explain the variation in their degree of sub-State diplomacy? And, 3) How are the international relations of Mexican federal units with their international counterparts. The first section argues that there is a wide variation in their degree of international participation. In order to characterize this variation, a typology is constructed, and the 32 Mexican federal units are classified in two moments in time (2004 and 2009), and a comparative analysis between these two periods is presented. The second section argues that the degree of sub-State diplomacy depends on three variables: economic (gross state product), political (juxtaposed government), and geographic (border location). Each of these variables is tested to determine its impact, providing evidence to sustain the relevance of the economic variable, arguing that juxtaposed government functions as a trigger variable for initiating or increasing external activities, and that the border is a necessary, but not sufficient variable, to explain the degree of international projection. Finally, the third and last section concentrates in explaining the levels and types of external relations of Mexican sub-State units with their external counterparts using Inter-Institutional Agreements (IIEs) as a proxy of these activities.