To be or not to be: Has Mexico got what it takes to be an Emerging Power?

Image: Flickr, Jason Rosenberg
Image: Flickr, Jason Rosenberg

Mexico has the economic resources to be considered an emerging power, but it has shown little capacity or initiative to exercise its potential as a regional leader – either economically or politically.

It has little involvement in the UN, has been reluctant to participate in peacekeeping missions and its foreign policy has been marred by inconsistency. This lack of regional leadership and foreign-policy vision may be explained by Mexico’s crisis of identity, straddling, as it does, North and Central America, but perceived as nevertheless unable to play an effective bridging role between the two.

Author: Hernán Gómez Bruera

The views expressed in this publication/article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).

15 Mar 2015