A study on the transformation of socio-economic space and community in rural Mexico under the NAFTA regime

作为对经济全球化的共同回应，区域发展领域的学者和实践者日益意识到生产和治理系统的（再）本地化，这在世界范围内是显而易见的。更具体地说，基于90年代非政府组织研究的启示，我们需要对参与地方发展的各种组织行动者，如当地非政府组织和向非政府组织提供直接/间接援助的国际/国内捐助者的角色和相互关系进行实证分析，从中我们可以看到南方公民社会现实的一些方面。墨西哥是这种分析的理想例子，因为该国在成为北美自由贸易协定正式成员国的七年时间里，在其农村和农业部门经历了一场激烈的新自由主义转型。虽然以新自由主义政策为导向的全球化迅速改变了墨西哥的宏观经济和社会环境，但该研究确定了一种基于地方的替代动力的出现，即通过民间社会的倡议来重组当地的社会经济空间。此外，该研究还确定了通过基层替代发展的经验和当地非政府组织在这方面的实际做法所孕育的话语。因此，我得出了一个假设前提，即在全球公民网络的支持下，南方公民社会可能在内生的地方发展中发挥作用。需要对这一假设进行批判性的检验。

A growing awareness for (re) localization of production and governance systems as a communal response to economic globalization among scholars and practitioners in regional development has been visible world-wide. More specifically, based on implications from the 1990s' NGOs studies, an empirical analysis of roles of and inter-relations among various organizational actors participating in local development such as local NGOs and international/domestic donors that provide NGOs with direct/indirect assistance is needed, from which we could find some aspects of reality of Sourthen civil society. Mexico is an ideal example for this analysis, since the country has experienced a drastic neoliberalistic transformation in its rural and agricultural sectors with a full membership of NAFTA for seven years. While globalization with a neoliberalistic policy orientation transforms Mexico's macro economic and social environment rapidly, the study identifies the emergence of a place-based alternative dynamics for restructuring local socio-economic space with civil society's initiatives. Also, the study identifies a discourse nourished through the experiences of alternative development at a grassroots level, and actual practices in that context by local NGOs. As a result, I have reached a hypothetical premise of a possible role of Southern civil society for endogenous local development with supports from global civic networks. A critical examination of this hypothesis is needed.