United States Promotion of GM Foods in Mexico: An Application of a Public Diplomacy Model

Abstract

The Mexican government’s policy of genetically modified (GM) foods has moved from a precautionary approach to the promotion and commercialization of agricultural biotechnology, possibly at the risk of narrowing Mexico’s biodiversity. The approval of the Law of Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms in 2005 allowed the cultivation of GM food crops. Subsequently, in accordance with the North America Free Trade Agreement, Mexico liberalized all agricultural product imports, including GM foods in 2008. In this thesis, I argue that the GM food policy change in Mexico can be explained by studying the US diplomatic and commercial efforts to promote GM foods. How US agencies, biotechnology companies, and NGOs have interacted with Mexican officials and other stakeholders, and how they have influenced this change of GM food policy, will be analyzed at length in this thesis. Through an adaptation of a public diplomacy model, and the conduct of documentary analysis and in-depth interviews, in this thesis I examine the state and non-state actors along with the public diplomacy activities involved in the Mexico’s GM food policy change. I describe how state actors such as the US Department of State and the Department of Agriculture have implemented programs that promote American agricultural products, including GM foods, and have applied diplomatic instruments, which in parallel with biotechnology corporations’ initiatives, appear to have been effective in influencing Mexican policy-makers. Non-state actors such as biotechnology companies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have also played important roles in changing Mexico’s GM food policy. My research found that biotechnology companies, as a result of their greater resources, have been more influential than NGOs, but NGO participation in public diplomacy activities has been relevant in raising GM food awareness among general audiences that in turn influenced policy-makers to exercise caution. Nevertheless, it is hypothesized that while the decision to liberalize GM food imports was a Mexican government decision, Mexican officials and legislators were influenced in that decision by US agencies and biotechnology corporations’ representations. How that influence was initiated, manifested, institutionalized, and received, analyzed by this author through the lens of a public diplomacy model, is the subject of this thesis.