Post-Revolutionary Cultural Diplomacy in the Mexico-United States Relationship During the 1920s

Abstract

The most important variable to explain Mexican foreign policy is being neighbor of the United States. The promulgation of the 1917 Mexican constitution generated a complex situation in the U.S.-Mexico relationship in the 1920s. The general objective of this article is to sustain or reject the argument that Mexico used successfully its cultural diplomacy to contain the tensions with the United States and facilitate bilateral negotiations. Through a thorough review of historic literature and archive work, examined under the constructivist and liberal institutional theories of international relations, this article analyzes the Mexican cultural diplomacy strategy. Then, it studies concrete policy actions implemented to diffuse Mexican culture in the United States. Finally, it evaluates the execution of these cultural diplomacy strategies, identifying significant changes in the attitudes of relevant U.S. actors towards Mexico, as well as an increased cooperation between the two countries. It concludes that the Mexican cultural diplomacy was a useful foreign policy instrument to reduce tensions with the United States and facilitate negotiations between the two countries