No al aeropuerto in texxoco! : regional decision-making and community countermobilization : the siting of Mexico City's new airport

Abstract

Despite the presence of numerous urban and regional planning commISSIons in the Mexico City region, they are noticeably absent from the national decision to site a new airport. If regional and local interests do not have a say in national decision-making, what does this mean for democracy? These issues are particularly relevant in Mexico, the next-door neighbor to the world's hegemonic leader, that for 71 years lived under de facto one party rule. With a new President, from a different political party, there has been a movement towards democracy. At the turn of the century with the signing of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) there is the promise of free trade that will help bolster Mexico's national economy. For Mexico, the benefits of international economic integration are closer than ever. However, in the case of the siting of the new airport in the Mexico City region, this process went terribly wrong. Increasingly there is a tension between the need for developing countries to democratize their institutions at the same time that they pursue massive infrastructure projects that modernize infrastructure and bolster the national economy. This thesis explores the tension between international economic integration and democratization and how it is played out in national infrastructure decisions that have local and regional impacts.