There is a wide body of literature that studies import substitution industrialization (ISI) in Latin America, yet most of these studies deal with this policy from an economic perspective, related to questions of development and underdevelopment, and the economic ideas that supported it. However, few studies deal with the politics behind it, the different actors that had a stake in it, and the conflicts and negotiations involved in its shaping and implementation. In this book, Susan Gauss makes an important contribution to the literature by exploring these issues in Mexico, a country where ISI policies were carried out with particular strength and endurance. As she points out, in Mexico protectionist policies became more than simply a means to enhance revenue or develop industry: “They became the cornerstone of ruling-party efforts to forge political unity, achieve economic independence from the United States, and improve national standards of living” (p. 5).

Through a very well researched and eloquent narrative, the book succeeds in providing a wide picture of the several heterogeneous groups within the government, the business community, and labor that intervened in the political arena from which ISI policies emerged. It shows that different conflicting views were in contention on what development meant, what role the state should play to achieve it, and how different regions would take part in it. The book reexamines the challenges to state intervention posed by an organized capitalist class that coalesced in regional groups to place limits to a centralizing state. It solidly argues that protectionist policies were not a result of a planned project devised by a hegemonic state based on the economic ideas then in vogue, but rather were the instrument that the state used to accommodate and reconcile the diverse interests in dispute to increase and retain its power.

The book explores the relation between the state and industrialists from the end of the Mexican Revolution to the 1950s and the different ways by which ideas on industrialization and protectionist policies evolved. It delves into the formation of Mexico’s post-revolutionary governments and on the role played by a group of educated “technocrats” who served in different offices related to economic issues—particularly in the Bank of Mexico—with a clear vision about the importance of fostering industrialization as a way to economic development. Although these technocrats promoted protectionist policies, they wanted these policies to be carried out in a rationalistic and scientific way through well-analyzed, planned programs targeted to specific sectors. They advised against the dangers of ill-devised protectionism and excessive state intervention. However, they were a minority within a government that was not strong enough to carry such policies even if it had desired to. Instead, government politicians forged alliances with different sectors of society to remain in power, through pragmatic protectionist policies based on a political, not an economic, rationale.

Among these interest groups were several business associations that became important actors in the shaping statist industrialization. The book makes a splendid work in describing the genealogy, character, and political stance of these groups that continue to be influential in Mexico until today: CANACINTRA, CONCAMIN, COPARMEX, CONCANACO, and so on. This is, by itself, an important contribution of the book, as the role played by these groups is key to understanding Mexico’s contemporary history. As Gauss convincingly argues, the spurt of so many business associations in Mexico in the course of a few decades was the result of the failed attempt of the government to organize business as part of a corporatist structure that successfully included other sectors of society, such as peasants, workers, or bureaucrats, within the ruling party. Taking advantage of caveats in the Law on Chambers of Commerce and Industry that sought to control them, businessmen allied in different associations to place limits on state intervention and centralization, and seek privileges for their members. Some of these groups, such as the National Chamber of Manufacturing Industry (Cámara Nacional de la Industria de Tranformación, CANACINTRA), formed mostly by employers from Mexico City, became close allies of the government, together with the largest labor organization, the Confederation of Mexican Workers (Confederación de Trabajadores de México, CTM), enabling the government to pursue strong economic intervention in exchange for protection, tax exemptions, and subsidized credits. In contrast, the Mexican Employers Association (Confederación Patronal de la República Mexicana, COPARMEX) was formed by businessmen from the northern city of Monterrey who sought to place limits on what they perceived as a pro-labor bias in labor regulations and policies, and to curb state economic intervention.

Gauss gives particular preeminence to regionalism as a factor that confronted local employers against a state that sought to centralize power in Mexico City, as well as an instrument that helped businessmen group together to place limits to the state, and/or obtain privileges from the local and federal governments. The book deals in depth with four regions: Guadalajara, Mexico City, Puebla, and Monterrey. The chapters on these regions evidence the very different industrial histories, characteristics, and problems that each one experienced. Whereas in Puebla most businesses belonged to the textile industry, in Guadalajara they were generally small venues that produced consumer goods. In Monterrey, the industry was generally larger and heavier, and the local business elite shared strong personal ties, social conservatism, and a history of political exclusion that strengthened its resistance against state intervention. Consequently, as Gauss contends, “the notion of a national bourgeoisie colluding with a Leviathan state in pursuit of their overlapping economic and political interests seems narrow, if not crude” (p. 243). Rather, Mexico’s path to statist, protected development was contested and erratic, and highlights the ability of the ruling party to forge compromises with antagonistic sectors of Mexico’s varied industrialists.

This book is a valuable reading not only for those seeking to understand Mexico’s twentieth-century history, but also for those interested in its current politics and business environment.