Reconfiguring the Countryside: Power, Control, and the (Re)Organization of Farmers in West Mexico

This article examines the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Mexico's agricultural economy, with particular emphasis on the role of the government in economic restructuring aimed at privatization and global competitiveness. Government policy and practice have sought to revitalize select agricultural sectors that have faltered with the opening of the Mexican economy. This process will be explored through the analysis of the shifting relationship between the state and local elites in the northwest highlands of Michoacan, an area dominated by small-scale dairy farming. Much of rural Mexico has a long history of powerful caciques (local political strongmen) and their patronage networks, that have arisen in the service of state interests only to be replaced when political-economic conditions change. In this instance, neoliberal reforms have resulted in the reconfiguration of power and authority, and the emergence of new-style techno-caciques--well-educated political and economic entr...