Resumo

ANAYA MUNOZ, Alejandro. Free trade and human rights foreign policy in North America: Evaluation of the "spillover" thesis. Espiral (Guadalaj.) [online]. 2009, vol.16, n.46, pp.09-36. ISSN 1665-0565.

The spillover thesis states that increasing levels of economic association will propitiate processes of integration on the social and political spheres. This argument has been retaken by some authors who have applied it to the area of the foreign policy of the countries member of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In particular, this article evaluates the hypothesis that the establishment of a free trade scheme in North America has had something to do with the recent changes in Mexico's foreign policy in the concrete area of human rights, aligning itself with that of the United States of America and Canada. After exploring different causal mechanisms that might link the NAFTA with the recent changes of Mexico's foreign policy in question, the article concludes that the thesis of alignment by spillover does not hold true and it offers coherent alternative explanations sustained by the evidence.

Palavras-chave : spillover; free trade; NAFTA; foreign policy on human rights; North America.

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