Federalism and Foreign Affairs in Mexico: The International Negotiations of Mexican Sub-State Governments.

This article analyzes the international negotiations of sub-State governments (INSSG) in Mexico. It addresses five questions: 1) What factors explain the increasing number of INSSGs? 2) What is the impact of federalism on INSSG? 3) What are the levels of INSSG and how have they changed over the years? 4) How do Mexican sub-State governments (SSG) institutionalize their international negotiations? 5) What are the perceptions and capacities of the SSG in their internationalization process? The study explains the growth of INSSG due to democratization, arguing that renewed Mexican federalism has generated incentives for SSGs to participate more intensively in international negotiations. It analyzes the wide variation in the INSSG and explains how it has evolved over the last decade. It focuses on the analysis of Inter-Institutional Agreements (IIA) and explains the perceptions and capacities of Mexican SSG to conduct international negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]