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Remaking Mexico: Law Reform As Foreign Policy, Deborah M. Weissman

Deborah M. Weissman

This article, Remaking Mexico: Law Reform as Foreign Policy examines the practice of promoting rule of law programs abroad as a matter of a foreign policy subgenre. It argues that U.S. law reform projects as foreign aid conditionalities preempt the political discourse from substantive debates about justice systems. The arguments are developed through an assessment of the Mérida Initiative (also known as Plan México) which is a product of U.S. policy efforts to shape the legal systems of select foreign countries. The article reviews the circumstances in Mexico as they relate to U.S. efforts to export law and legal systems. …