Downsizing the State

“I very much like this book. It is the best account of Mexican privatization I have read. It is a masterful account of how the Mexican bureaucracy operates and has fantastic data to support its overall points.” —Miguel Angel Centeno, Princeton University

“This is sociology of development as it should be practiced: close to the ground and unafraid of complexities.” —Alejandro Portes, Princeton University

“There are few books on the contemporary Mexican political economy that combine the theoretical sophistication, analytical insight, and wealth of information that this study brings to its exploration of privatization and of the implications of neoliberal reform for state-market relations. I’m not aware of any book that deals with the Mexican privatization process at this level; in this sense it is in a class by itself.” —Nora Hamilton, University of Southern California

“The book is not only about privatization in Mexico; it is about the significance of privatization in Mexico, and how to understand state-market relations more generally. The book is an impressive achievement.” —F. S. Weaver, Choice

“Dag MacLeod has produced an excellent book. It is obviously well planned and well rehearsed. . . . He has managed to capture the sentiments of many ordinary Mexicans during the past decade. . . . MacLeod has carefully turned the very difficult theme of private-public sector linkages, and its contradictions, into a readable and well crafted series of case studies.” —Lorenzo Covarrubias, Contemporary Sociology

“These two monographs on government-business relations in contemporary Mexico (Macleod’s Downsizing the State and Shadlen’s Democratization Without Representation) share the same publisher as well as the virtues of careful research and documentation, creative synthesis of theoretical strands from political science, economic sociology and new institutional economics, an explicit comparative angle and accessibility for non-area specialists. These books can be confidently recommended as texts in graduate courses on comparative politics, sociology of economic organization, business management and public administration.” —Kun-Chin Lin, Political Studies Review