Authoritarian Decision-making and Alternative Patterns of Power and Influence

This study examines the nature of decision making within the Mexican political system in the area of industrial policy. The combination of interests that generated this work is a complex one which evolved over the course of my graduate work. I attribute the key spark to an interest in multinationals and the response they have evoked from host governments in Latin America. My inquiry into views these governments have developed towards foreign investment led to a recognition of the increasingly important role technocrats exercise in formulating industrial policy. Of particular interest was the case of Mexico where technocrats have inherited the highest political office in the last three administrations and are now poised to continue that trend. Mexico also merited interest because of the on-going debate about the nature of its political system - authoritarian or democratizing? At the center of such a question lies the age-old concern over the locus of power and the relatively more recent interest in determining the distribution of influence. Theses. (sdw).