At the time of the decision to negotiate the North American Free TradeAgreement (NAFTA), advocates argued that closer integration with Canadaand the United States would have a democratizing influence onMexico'spolitical regime (Baer and Weintraub, 1994: 174–79; Pastor, 1993: 67).Critics of the deal suggested just the opposite, insisting thatNAFTA might perpetuate or even reinvigorate authoritarian rule (AguilarZinser, 1993: 203–15; Castañeda 1996). With the breakthrough electionsof July 2000 and the transfer of executive power to an opposition partythe — PAN, or National Action Party — it is timely to ask: were theadvocates of NAFTA right all along? Was NAFTA the impetus forMexico'slong overdue transition to democracy?