Mentalidad localista y hechura de políticas de comercio exterior: lecciones del México subnacional

The purpose of this article is to reflect on the paro-chial mentality as an issue to consider in the policy-making of subnational foreign trade policies, for the specific case of Sonora, Mexico. The methodological strategy was based on semi-structured interviews with experts, where nine actors were interviewed, those directly linked to the foreign trade policy, three from the public sector, three from the private sector, and three from the university sector. The main finding indicates that the parochial mentality is an obstacle to the effective policy-making on the subnational foreign trade arena since the lack of mental and commercial openness negatively affects the exploit of international opportunities. This parochial mentality is maintained and reinforced by the intense imbrications of business groups with political groups, where there are not the necessary check and balances to make competing decisions. Thus, the predominant policy-making pattern res-ponds more to maintain the local status quo, than to compete in the international market.