US Foreign Policy toward Mexico: Norms, Principles, Conflicts and Cooperation

The war on drugs in Mexico has caused more than 30,000 victims since Mexican President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006. But apart from drug trafficking, problems like migration, international security against terrorism and economic conflicts within NAFTA are challenging the bilateral relation between Mexico and the US. This paper focuses on US foreign policy toward Mexico. It reflects the norms and principles of US foreign policy since 2001 and analyzes whether the Obama administration would have taken fundamental changes in mutual security cooperation. Moreover, it reviews critically the Merida Initiative of 2007 and its aim to combat the threats of drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and money laundering. Finally, the paper develops security models of bilateral cooperation that permit successful methods in order to establish prosperous perspectives on these issues for both North- and Central-America under the principles of US foreign policy approaches.