-
Acknowledgments
- Penn State University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Theresearchforthisbookbeganmorethaneighteenyearsago,longbeforeIever realized it might one day be published or even publishable. In 1992, I moved to the city of Tijuana to work with a Mexican nongovernmental organization on migration and local development projects. The city was, at the time, in the midst of profound changes brought about by a still incipient process of political opening and a simultaneous empowerment of local government. I lived in Tijuana for almost six years in the midst of these changes and began to document some of the transformations on the ground that would later become the material for thisbook.IamgratefulforallthoseindividualswithwhomIworkedduringthose years, and I am still proud to consider Tijuana a second home. I am particularly grateful to Jonathan Fox, Rod Camp, and Carol Wise, as well as two anonymous readers, all of whom reviewed this manuscript and made extensive comments that greatly improved the final product. Sandy Thatcher at Penn State University Press was the best editor an author could ever want. Peter Smith, Tonatiuh Guillén, Phil Oxhorn, Enrique Cabrero, Jesse Ribot, Tomila Lankina, Arturo Alvarado, Ariel Armony, David Crocker, Mac Destler, Raúl Benítez, Lorenzo Meyer, John Bailey, Jesús Silva-Herzog Márquez, Rossana Fuentes-Berain, Leonardo Avritzer, Enrique Peruzzotti, Richard Stren, Marcus Melo, Blair Ruble, and Stephanie McNulty all helped shape my thinking on specific ideas raised in this book, and they have all pointed out issues that later found their way into the text. I am also grateful to Patricia Rosas for her work in editing the manuscript, which greatly improved the book. For several years now, I have been fortunate to work at the Woodrow Wilson Center, which has allowed me to continue researching issues related to Mexico and the quality of democracy in the hemisphere. This book has been influenced by several research collaborations over these years, including projects with Jonathan Fox, Phil Oxhorn, Enrique Peruzzotti, Jacqueline Peschard, Cindy Arnson, Acknowledgments Raúl Benítez, Xochitl Bada, David Shirk, Eric Olson, Rossana Fuentes-Berain, Joe Tulchin, Robert Donnelly, Jorge Hernández Díaz, Leticia Santín, and Heidy Servin-Baez. I am indebted to David Crocker and Mac Destler at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, where I completed my Ph.D., as well as Mary Kay Vaughan, Bill Galston, and Roberto Patricio Korzeniewicz. I am also indebted to Christine Hunefeldt at UCSD (where I completed my M.A. a number of years ago) for introducing me to much of the theoretical literature that helped mebegintomakesenseoftheissuesinthisbook,andtoPeterSmithforhismany comparative insights. In completing the research for this book, I benefited from a period of residency in the Center for Sociological Studies at El Colegio de México and from a fellowship at the University of Maryland’s Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy. I am especially grateful to Arturo Alvarado and Gustavo Verduzgo for arranging the residency at El Colegio de México. I am also thankful to Raúl Benítez for receiving us in his home while my wife and I lived in Mexico City, and to Rossana Fuentes-Berain, who kindly lent me her office for a couple weeks as I was preparing the final manuscript. In Tijuana, I am grateful to Tonatiuh Guillén and Sandra Dibble for their help in understanding municipal and state politics; to Lilia León, a friend and former colleague, for her expert research assistance and analysis; and to José Luis Pérez Canchola, Maricarmen Hernández, Cristina Franco, and Oscar Escalada for insightful analysis of local political developments since I moved away from the city. Above all, my friends Carlos Mendoza and Concepción Aguilar, along with their son Andrés, provided a home away from home in Tijuana, and they also shaped my understanding of the city in countless ways. InCiudadNezahualcóyotl,Ibenefitedimmenselyfrommyconversationswith Gerardo Salazar, Alliet Bautista, and Alma Aquino and from the expert research assistance of Jessica Hernández. Martha Schteingart, Socorro Arzaluz, Ramón Rivera,andGerardoSalazargenerouslysharedtheirresearch,andmysister-in-law Adriana Vallejo provided us with a shared home a few miles away in Mexico City. In Chilpancingo, I learned a great deal from Julio César Aguirre, Homero Castro, Silvia Alemán, and Silvia Castillo. I am grateful for the research assistance of Osiel Humberto González and the historical insight of Pety Acevedo, as well as the constant hospitality of Elsa Romero and Edgar Pavía who provided a home away from home when visiting the city and a roadmap through Chilpancingo ’s past and present. x Acknowledgments [3.93.173.205...