ABSTRACT
The inauguration of Carlos Salinas de Gortari as president of Mexico on December 1, 1988, represented the coming to power of a new generation of Mexicans-the so-called technocratscommitted to open the economy, confident that Mexico would benefit from increasing foreign trade. Mexican foreign policy underwent important transformations during the early 1990s. Mexico left behind its traditional anti-American posture in foreign affairs and showed an increasing willingness to cooperate with the United States. Commerce secretary Jaime Serra and his team conducted the negotiations swiftly. President Salinas’s formal style left little or almost no room for bureaucratic politics, that is, competition and frictions between the agencies involved. Foreign affairs minister Fernando Solana and his ministry were almost completely marginalized during the negotiation. The model predicts a higher degree of bureaucratic infighting under these conditions. The foreign ministry and the economy ministry struggled for control of the agenda, while President Fox let friction between the ministries unfold.
