ABSTRACT
As stated in the overview of the previous chapter, countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia (besides the East Asian Tigers) have traditionally failed at centralising their state’s power. In this particular case, chapter 3 will highlight how a subnational unit in Mexico (Querétaro) played a proactive role in upgrading its industrial landscape by exploiting the national context of the country’s ISI (import substitution industrialisation) period.
So, how could we assess the more proactive and statist initiatives that have been shaped from below in the developing world? In the case of Mexico, as this chapter will expand through the analysis of Querétaro, the particular incapability to centralise both political and economic development led subnational governments to uneven opportunities and challenges. This chapter will thus highlight how structural conditions of insecurity and scarcity of resources led Querétaro’s subnational government to embrace a proactive role in their industrialisation, emphasising public-private cooperation and the consolidation of their bureaucratic capabilities through institutionalised platforms.
