State-Society Relations in Mexico: Clientelism, Neoliberal State Reform, and the Case of Conasupo (The Political Economy of Latin America)

Social policy is the quintessential lever available to Mexican presidents to manage state-society relations in general and assuage social tension in moments of economic and political crisis. This work examines State-society relations in Mexico and the case of Conasupo, the National Basic Foods Company of Mexico. It analyzes the Conasupo Modernizacion Plan (1990-1994), which promised to privatize various assets, to end general subsidies, to reduce a large Conasupo labour force, and yet to impose a neoliberal or "needs-based" alternative at the parastatal.