> "More than three decades after publication, two things amaze me: how little the boundaries have changed and how much chatter this idea is getting recently. "
This is also true for the Mexican Nations, although the Mexican nations started a new experiment called "Democracy" in the 2000, they chose a tri-party system. Also boundaries have changed , Mexamerica have expanded north of the border defined 30 years ago, but also lose territory to it's southern neighbor, New Spain. In a way the Mexamerican nation is moving to the North. Thanks to NAFTA, Mexamerica economy became richer and interlaced. Mexamerica became politically powerful in the mid-2000's just to see lose its leverage because of the great recession and the drug war, being politically neutralized in 2012 elections. Although things are returning to normality Mexamerica saw many of the bloodiest battles in the Drug war. Once the richest of the Nations, its economic supremacy it's being contested by Metromex and New Spain.
New Spain saw great progress, it diversified its crops thanks to NAFTA. It created a new industrial corridor comprising the cities of León, Aguascalientes, Irapuato, Celaya, Salamanca which many were part of Mexamerica but now are tied economically and culturally to New Spain and now are home to Nissan, Texas Instruments, General Motors, and many other's factories. IT companies like Intel, IBM, Freescale, HP, Oracle, Hitachi, etc. built its regional headquarters at Guadalajara. By not relying in the demand of Metromex, it gained the political power it always wanted in the Federation congress.
Metromex saw it's political power now reduced to a distant memory. The middle class not ceased to grow and now is one of the biggest markets for many industries worldwide. It transformed its economy from an industry oriented to a service oriented. It bulldozed its factories to make space for skyscrapers and transformed it's colony to the west, Toluca, to it's new industrial hub. It reached the 8th place on the 2008 PwC Richest Cities ranking. In a few years it will become a true cosmopolitan megalopolis stretching to Queretaro to the north, Puebla to the east, Cuernavaca to the south and Toluca to the west.
Club Mex received new territorial additions, Punta Mita from New Spain, Los Cabos from Mexamerica, the whole south pacific and Caribbean coast from South Mexico. Although it hasn't gained the political power it deserves, Club Mex grew to became 30% of the Federation GDP. Club Mex future is the most uncertain, climate change and the pressure from the organized crime pose a great threat to many of its inhabitants which many are immigrants from the First world and South America.
South Mexico is still stuck in the past, the massive immigration in the 80's and 90's to the United States had left many towns deserted, while many others only inhabited with old people and children. Its economy was destroyed by the NAFTA, unable to compete to North-American farmers it has tried to become the new Club Mex with mixed results, one of the most notable success is Chiapas.
Totally agree, I would like to extend your comment with my personal point of view about New Spain. This nation, in the past decade, has known how to get adventage of the IT industry, with a growing population of Engineers mostly "immigrants" from Mexamerica and Metromex (I´m one of those immigrants, I came to New Spain from Mexamerica for better oportunities as a Software developer).
Cities as Aguascalientes, Guadalajara and Queretaro are creating a big IT industry, with superior salaries and better work enviroments which are attracting developers from all around Mexico. International companies from the US, India and Mexico are investing a lot of resources there. Mexamerica is kind of falling apart, with some exceptions as Monterrey and Ensenada, let´s see if Mexamerica finally wakes up and starts doing something about it.
http://www.csuchico.edu/~sbrady/357fivenationsofmexico.pdf (1987)
> "More than three decades after publication, two things amaze me: how little the boundaries have changed and how much chatter this idea is getting recently. "
This is also true for the Mexican Nations, although the Mexican nations started a new experiment called "Democracy" in the 2000, they chose a tri-party system. Also boundaries have changed , Mexamerica have expanded north of the border defined 30 years ago, but also lose territory to it's southern neighbor, New Spain. In a way the Mexamerican nation is moving to the North. Thanks to NAFTA, Mexamerica economy became richer and interlaced. Mexamerica became politically powerful in the mid-2000's just to see lose its leverage because of the great recession and the drug war, being politically neutralized in 2012 elections. Although things are returning to normality Mexamerica saw many of the bloodiest battles in the Drug war. Once the richest of the Nations, its economic supremacy it's being contested by Metromex and New Spain.
New Spain saw great progress, it diversified its crops thanks to NAFTA. It created a new industrial corridor comprising the cities of León, Aguascalientes, Irapuato, Celaya, Salamanca which many were part of Mexamerica but now are tied economically and culturally to New Spain and now are home to Nissan, Texas Instruments, General Motors, and many other's factories. IT companies like Intel, IBM, Freescale, HP, Oracle, Hitachi, etc. built its regional headquarters at Guadalajara. By not relying in the demand of Metromex, it gained the political power it always wanted in the Federation congress.
Metromex saw it's political power now reduced to a distant memory. The middle class not ceased to grow and now is one of the biggest markets for many industries worldwide. It transformed its economy from an industry oriented to a service oriented. It bulldozed its factories to make space for skyscrapers and transformed it's colony to the west, Toluca, to it's new industrial hub. It reached the 8th place on the 2008 PwC Richest Cities ranking. In a few years it will become a true cosmopolitan megalopolis stretching to Queretaro to the north, Puebla to the east, Cuernavaca to the south and Toluca to the west.
Club Mex received new territorial additions, Punta Mita from New Spain, Los Cabos from Mexamerica, the whole south pacific and Caribbean coast from South Mexico. Although it hasn't gained the political power it deserves, Club Mex grew to became 30% of the Federation GDP. Club Mex future is the most uncertain, climate change and the pressure from the organized crime pose a great threat to many of its inhabitants which many are immigrants from the First world and South America.
South Mexico is still stuck in the past, the massive immigration in the 80's and 90's to the United States had left many towns deserted, while many others only inhabited with old people and children. Its economy was destroyed by the NAFTA, unable to compete to North-American farmers it has tried to become the new Club Mex with mixed results, one of the most notable success is Chiapas.