Social Conflict and Competing State Projects in the Semi‐Periphery: A Strategic‐Relational Analysis of the Transformation of the Mexican State into an Internationalized Competition State

Abstract: This article draws on the strategic‐relational approach in state theory and examines the transformation of the Mexican state into internationalized competition state. It does so by analyzing the rise of the neoliberal forces and the neoliberal state project inside Mexico during the 1970s while taking into account the important modifications in the international division of labor and the evolving international regulation. These developments resulted in the transformation of the Mexican state into an internationalized competition state which adopts a Ricardian strategy of competition and is characterized by the tendencies towards the denationalization of statehood and the internationalization of policy regimes.