What Is Mexico Realism

By definition realism believes that “..the beginning and the end of international politics is the individual state in interaction with other states” (Nye, 5). Since realism believes that each state should act according to their best interest, from a realist point of view due to the fact that Mexico’s economy is dependent on the U.S and that the U.S. is known for their strong military, Mexico is in no position to go to war with the United States. Mexico’s best interest is to ensure that the U.S.-Mexico relationship is in good standing in order for their trading agreements to continue without any problems. A realist could say that Mexico decided that it was in their best interest to make the consumption of drugs and the growing of drugs illegal, in the 1900s, because the U.S. was insisting for the prohibition of drugs and Mexico wanted to make sure not to lose U.S. support and …show more content…
In addition, at certain points Mexico has been pressured into acting against the drug cartels in Mexico. As a result multiple operations have taken place on behalf of the Mexican government including the War on Drugs. The War on Drugs, launched by former President Felipe Calderon in 2006, was a military initiative against the cartels, according to Reuters. Calderon acted with the nation’s best interest in two ways, in attempting to make his state safe and in keeping peace with the U.S. by demonstrating that action was taking place against the cartels. Since realism is also “... a philosophy that puts national interests ahead of moral concerns” (Wolfowitz), using military force was a logical move on behalf of Calderon because he was strictly concerned about the security of the people that he promised to protect. In addition according to Jervis, it makes sense to undergo “bloody internal struggles in which the objective is to gain control of whatever national machinery there is...” (Jervis, 981 -