Neoliberalism in Mexico
Neoliberalism can be viewed as an economic model through which a nation achieves economic growth. It is a system that believes in the power of free-markets and the minimization of government intervention in dealings with social and economic aspects of society. In other words, individuals or businesses should be able to trade freely with one another and shouldn’t encounter any limitations on the amount of wealth they accumulate from it. Neoliberalism believes this produces sustained economic growth and is necessary in order for a nation’s economy to be progressive. This model, however, may not be beneficial to all groups of a society, especially the poor.
Mexico is an example of a nation that implements this free market system. According to Holzer (2007), the “…obstacles and disincentives…”(pg. 2) generated with this system have stifled the political influence of those at the bottom. According to table 1 from the same article that includes data between the years 1981 and 2003 (pg. 93), the low income and the high income population have both experienced a silencing in their ability to both participate in strikes and avidly discuss politics. However, those among the high income population had an advantage in terms of ability to protest and petition. Also, there has been a “…redistribution of resources away from the lower class…”(pg. 95) towards the upper class population, making it difficult for them to acquire the resources they need in order to effectively be politically active. Thus, I find it very ironic that a regime that is supposed to promote liberalization of a nation for positive benefit has found a way to repress the freedoms of its people.
According to the 2016 Index of Economic Freedom, provided by heritage.org, Mexico is experiencing some positives and negatives in terms of freedoms. Although it’s generally viewed as virtually free in terms of trade capability, it’s moderately free in terms of government and monetary spending, and business, fiscal, and investment freedom. To an even worse extent, its people are considered mostly unfree in terms of monetary and labor freedom and repressed when it comes to property rights and freedom from corruption. Mexico’s overall freedom score is 65%. Thus, these statistics reinforce the idea that a free market economy represses the freedoms of its citizens despite being in a democracy.