The dual maquila system in Mexico in the face of recent globalization

Abstract

The opening of the Mexican economy stimulated by the NAFTA has given rise to an expansion of the international maquila during the last decade. Less well known are the national maquila and, more concretely, the home-based maquila.. The objective of this article is to show that both manifestations of the maquilador phenomenon are intimately connected, although they play very different roles in the Mexican economy. The point of theoretical support is the model of proto-industrialisation, a concept much discussed in Europe in the eighties. While in Europe the successful proto-industrialisation of certain regions deepened the rupture between the traditional feudal system and nascent capitalism, in the case of present-day Mexico everything seems to indicate that home-based maquila tends to separate from international maquila –at least in certain industries– and to turn into a simple safety valve.