The research for this book was carried out while I was a doctoral candidate at Queen Mary, University of London, 1997–2001, compiling the thesis ‘Political Discourse and Neoliberal Reform in Mexico 1988–1994’. Much of the data were collected during fieldwork in Mexico City between July 1998 and June 1999, made possible in part thanks to assistance from the British Academy. Among the many fellow scholars and colleagues in academia and journalism who supported and encouraged me during this period and to whom I owe a debt of gratitude, particular thanks must go to Professors James Dunkerley and Raymond Kuhn for their confidence in me, patience and wise counsel. In Mexico, many kind people helped me, but I am particularly grateful to Jorge Chabat, Gabriela Duvignau Barrera, Santiago Oñate, José Carreño Carlón, Miguel Medina Hernández, Guadalupe Gutiérrez Ortega, José Antonio Guerrero de Barra de Nautla, Lucrecia Iriarte, Elsie Montiel, Cristóbal Birrichaga and Judith Ruiz Solís. The staff of the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) were always kind and helpful, as were my in-laws Cecilia Jiménez de Solano, Miguel Jiménez López, and the late Ana María Reynoso de Jiménez, who is greatly missed. I owe a special debt of gratitude to my wife Georgina and daughters Isabel, Nina and Caitlin, for putting up with the many hours of solitary confinement I spent in bringing this work to a conclusion. Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to the team at Liverpool University Press for their hard work in bringing this title into print.

A Note on References

Primary data are referred to in abbreviated form in notes, and headlines are only reproduced where clarification is considered necessary. Page numbers, or whether an item is sourced from a CD-ROM, are given at first reference, and thereafter only to cite a specific theme or phrase. Articles taken from CD-ROMs are referred to only by author, edition and year, having no page numbers (although the corresponding item can almost always be found in print), and for some print items from the PRI's cuttings archive, only the title, author and edition are cited. Dates are given in English. Translations from Spanish are the author's. Carlos Salinas de Gortari is abbreviated to CSG.