Diversity, Inequality and Know-How. The Factor in Mexico’s Foreign Relations

In his essay on the cultural factor in Mexico’s foreign relations, the author reflects on how the economic, political and intellectual development of the country is marked by diversity, inequality, a destructive streak and a hefty dose of know-how. Mexico’s ingenuity and its ability to weather adversity have enabled it to emphasize its own uniqueness. This know-how, says the author, rather than savoirfaire, can be translated as “ingenuity,” and is a central factor in the capillarity between the popular and the academic in Mexican culture. Diversity, originality and inequality have marked out the path toward a truly Mexican culture that, faced with the atavisms of a monolithic vision, has yet to be discovered. Mexico’s multi-cultural society is what defines the country and defies all attempts at homogenization and unification. Here, the author proposes that Mexican culture must be viewed in the context of this diversity and capillarity; in the sphere of international relations, this could well mean leaving behind the quaint, picturesque Mexico of the past and thinking in terms of a more real, more complex country.