MacLeod.

MacLeod, Dag. Downsizing the State: Privatization and the Limits of Neoliberal Reform in Mexico. University Park: Penn State University Pres 2004 Maps, figures, tables, appendixes, bibliography, index, 306 pp; hardcover $65 paperback $29

In the existing maelstrom of debates focusing onward so-called neoliberal policies and economies in Latin America, it is indeed refreshing to meeting a work that presents a [i]de novo[/i] perspective on the often overused name While Dag MacLeod has inserted his whirl on privatization into the field of economic sociology, his way s sources, and conclusions will interest nearly all social scientists working in Latin America. And while a fasten upon of recent works have evaluated the multifaceted impact and implications of neoliberal economic policies in Mexico (see Lawson 2004) small in number studies have tackled the rather large vocabulary of black chest terms that scholars commonly use In this respect, Downsizing the State breaks more [i]or[/i] less new ground, analyzing the privatization proces for specific economic sectors in Mexico and, at times, confirming past findings in succession the role of international capital in the neoliberal transition (for example, Mahon 1996)

MacLeod's volume is organized with equal treatment to theoretical arguments and empirical case studies. The first three chapters discuss issues of economic organization, public and state-led ownership and progression in a continuously ascending gradation of industries in Latin America, and the ultimate demise of state-led organization, respectively. While the initial review of material can, at times, appear to be dry for those not drenched in neoclassical economic theories and economic sociology, MacLeod does make a point of suggesting that readers skip this portion if it is not relevant to their specific interests. Still, what this implies is that the author has single lightly massaged the dissertation topic on which this work is based, and it detracts slightly from the readability.

The analysis of markets embedded in social relations will appeal to economic sociologists and economists interested in the part of nonmarket institutions in relation to capital and state relations. What is more intriguing from the perspective of interdisciplinary research onward neoliberal Mexico, however, are a scarcely any of the insights MacLeod draws in these initial chapters. First, a more complicated and subtle analysis of the relations between public and private actors is propos next to the first and this aspect is crucial to understanding the empirical chapters, is the focus forward the privatization of the privatization proces itself. In other words, the liberalization of state-led industries or sectors was not an act of state withdrawal alone, further one guided and operationalized by the agency of private interests along the way. These sum of two units important assertions are illustrated and clarified in the empirical chapters of the volume

Chapters 4 by the agency of 6 cover the privatization of the aviation industry, telecommunications, and the national railroad rule respectively. Of central import to the author is the range of public and private decisions made to privatize each company and by what means the process and tactics of the Mexican federal guidance varied depending on the demands of varying constituents. To practise artifice the pressures of organized labor and international and domestic capitalists while striving to maintain a modicum of political govern was the central challenge for the presidential administrations from 1982 in succession What is also clear from these chapters is the pivotal character of the 1982 financial crisis. MacLeod is fair to argue that it was not a single crisis unless a series of crises that either accelerated or delayed the privatization measures envisioned during each presidential denomination The parallels and contrasts of the privatization processe and issues for the three case studies mirror the complexity of the neoliberal measures.

Long before privatization of the commercial aviation companies Aerom?©xico and Mexicana de Aviation, the federal direction had repeatedly kept the couple airlines afloat. The irony MacLeocl finds is that despite the attempt to decentralize these airlines from one side privatization, the net result was an increased concentration in direction and ownership. The commercial aviation industry in Mexico was shaped from several accords with the United States, as the two providers were forced to qualified Federal Aviation Administration regulations, leading to the creation of parastate sectors that provided industry oversight and governance. the pair Aerom?©xico and Mexicana remained publicly have a title toed until privatization occurred in 1988 What stations this privatization experience apart from the other cases is the state's remarkable ability, during the proces to isolate and contain organized labor replications For MacLeod, it marked "the beginning of a more direct offensive against public sector workers" (132) on the same level if the pilots' union was able to extract or demand a not many compromises, workers in the aviation industry fared poorly from comparison.

The Telmex experience, in stark contrast, has typically been not absented as an example of "successful" and rather painless privatization. Here, too, the author provides an admirable account and argument for for what purpose this might be the case. T?©l?©fonos de Mexico, from its same inception, was a domestic-international peril and was therefore shaped by means of international capital and markets early forward Since 1950, after Telmex acquired its solely direct competitor (CTTM), the company have sexual delight withed a de facto monopoly forward local and long-distance telephone usage. The same success Telmex enjoyed, even after the 1989 privatization, moreover, was directly linked to the continued further tapering presence of federal protection. The seven-year monopoly upon the long-distance market and its general lock on local calling have ensur Telmex's financial succes at least in the short space of time Even if suppliers of line and technical equipment are largely international, the shielding of direct international competition was a present for the company's private investors and, later, proprietors The Mexican experience of long-distance service provision also stands in stark contrast to that of the Chilean market, where long-distance calls were completely unclose to competition, a point the author does not miss. As common of MacLeod's informants puts it, the carriers "wanted a market of customers, not a market of calls" (173) Unlike the aviation sector, moreover, Telmex was profitable before and after privatization.