ABSTRACT

Mexico is the world's fifth largest oil producer in the world. Mexico is emerging as the country is also a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This underlines Mexico's self-image as an industrial nation. The countries of the EU, but also China and Japan consider Mexico as a gateway to markets in the United States. Many international companies have set up large-scale productions in Mexico and built to export duty-free from here in the U.S. and Canada. This was to be created in Mexico and many valuable jobs. This paper aims to explore all critical factors which contribute to the appearance of Mexico as a new emerging power.

Table of Contents

Background of Mexico1

Ethnicity and Religion1

Urban and Economic Networks2

Free Trade Economy Agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico4

Greening Mexico8

Mexico's Trade Performance9

Social Networks12

Globalization in Mexico13

New Opportunities in Mexico14

Mexico as a New Emerging Power

Background of Mexico

A southwestern state between Arizona and Texas, New Mexico is the 36th most populous state, with about two million people. About 45 percent are Hispanic, the highest percentage in the country, thanks to the state's long history as part of first New Spain and later Mexico. After Alaska and Oklahoma, New Mexico also has the third-highest percentage of Native Americans, primarily Navajo and Pueblo peoples. Social networks in New Mexico among these groups are long established, and the state is demographically unique among U.S. states (Hillerman & Tony, Pp.69-75).

Ethnicity and Religion

Whites make up about 84 percent of the population (about half of whom are Hispanic), blacks 3 percent, and Native Americans 10 percent. The largest non-Hispanic white ancestry group is the German Americans, representing about 9 percent of the population, again demonstrating the extent of the Hispanic influence on the demographic. Many government publications, such as driver's manuals and legal notices are published in both English and Spanish, and a little more than a quarter of the population speaks Spanish at home (McCord, Pp.78). The state is home to 22 sovereign Native American tribes, of which the Navajo, Pueblo, Hopi, and Apache are the largest. Most tribes hold events open to members of the public of any ethnicity, and Albuquerque is home to a large Pueblo Cultural Center. Just as significant as the number of Native Americans living on the reservations is the number who have assimilated and married into mainstream society over the generations. Relationships are thus intermingled among ethnic groups, and many long-time New Mexican residents can find one or more tribes represented in their genealogy (Simmons & Marc, Pp.55-61).

The religious demographic of New Mexico is unique as well: about 26 percent of New Mexicans are Catholic, and Protestants are divided among a plethora of denominations. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has more adherents in the state (about 3 percent) than any one Protestant denomination, except for the Southern Baptist Convention (about 9 percent). The LDS presence in New Mexico dates to the settlements that formed the Mormon Corridor, the communities that were settled throughout the west to ...