The Estrada Doctrine is the name of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

's core

foreign policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

ideal from 1930 to the early 2000s, and again since 2018. Its name derives from

Genaro Estrada Genaro Estrada (June 2, 1887 – September 29, 1937) was a Mexican statesman, academic, and writer. He was Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico between 1930 and 1932 and the architect of the Estrada Doctrine, which stated that the Mexican govern ...

Secretary of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

during the presidency of Pascual Ortiz Rubio (1930–1932). The doctrine was the most influential and representative instrument in the country's foreign policy for 70 years. It claims that foreign governments should not judge positively or negatively the governments or changes in government of other states, as such an action would imply a breach of state

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

. The policy was said to be based on the principles of

non-intervention Non-interventionism or non-intervention is a political philosophy or national foreign policy doctrine that opposes interference in the domestic politics and affairs of other countries but, in contrast to isolationism, is not necessarily opposed t ...

, peaceful resolution of disputes and self-determination of all nations.

Background

On September 12, 1931, Mexico was admitted to the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

. That was a significant event as it had not been invited since the creation of the

intergovernmental organization Globalization is social change associated with increased connectivity among societies and their elements and the explosive evolution of transportation and telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various typ ...

once the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

ended, which can be attributed mainly to some unsolved problems between Mexico and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In the heart of the forum, Mexico established its position in favor of the

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

and the principles of

and

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

. The Mexican government always supported the peaceful resolution of disputes and rejected the use of force in

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

. All of that gave the country a major international prestige. As for its southern neighbors in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

and the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, Mexico returned to the

International Conference of American States The Conferences of American States, commonly referred to as the Pan-American Conferences, were meetings of the Pan-American Union, an international organization for cooperation on trade. James G. Blaine, a United States politician, Secretary ...

, where it had been previously excluded because the government had not been recognized by the US. The country gained an outstanding prestige in the conferences that took place in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

(1928) and

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

(1933), which postured for Latin American union and international law. Meanwhile, Mexico had the opportunity to spread its position towards the international practice of

recognition Recognition may refer to: *Award, something given in recognition of an achievement Machine learning *Pattern recognition, a branch of machine learning which encompasses the meanings below Biometric * Recognition of human individuals, or biomet ...

, known as the Estrada Doctrine.

, pointed out on September 27, 1930:

Content

The Estrada Doctrine suggests that upon the establishment of ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' governments in other countries, Mexico did not support giving

because it is considered a degrading practice. By injuring the

of other states, recognition puts them in a vulnerable position because their internal affairs can be judged by other governments, which assume a critical attitude when deciding about the legality and legitimacy of foreign governments. Mexico was itself harmed because of the practice, as it was difficult to obtain recognition of its

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

. The most extended use of the Estrada Doctrine was in the 1970s, when Mexico did not withdraw its recognition of any South American government that was formed through a ''

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

''. The only measure Mexico could use against such governments was withdrawing its

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

. In other words, the Estrada Doctrine states that Mexico should not make positive or negative judgements about the governments, or changes in government, of other nations, because such an action would imply a breach to their

. In addition, the doctrine is based on the universally-recognized principles of

and

, which are considered essential for mutual respect and

cooperation Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English) is the process of groups of organisms working or acting together for common, mutual, or some underlying benefit, as opposed to working in competition for selfish benefit. Many animal a ...

amongst nations.

Current status

During the

Vicente Fox Vicente Fox Quesada (; born 2 July 1942) is a Mexican businessman and politician who served as the 62nd president of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006. After campaigning as a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist, Fox was elec ...

administration (2000–2006), both Ministers of Foreign Affairs,

Jorge Castañeda Gutman Jorge Castañeda Gutman (born May 24, 1953) is a Mexican politician and academic who served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs (2000–2003). He also authored more than a dozen books, including a biography of Che Guevara, and he regularly con ...

and

Luis Ernesto Derbez Luis Ernesto Derbez Bautista (born April 1, 1947 in Mexico City) is a Mexican politician and Rector (academia), rector of the Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP). He served as Mexico's Secretariat of Economy (Mexico), Secretary of Econ ...

, tried to discontinue the Estrada Doctrine, resulting in what was called the

Castañeda Doctrine The Castañeda Doctrine is a term used as reference to Mexico's foreign policy during the presidency of Vicente Fox. Its name derives from its proponent, Jorge Castañeda Gutman. Fox appointed Castañeda to be his Secretary of Foreign Affairs In ma ...

. Under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico began to utilize the Estrada Doctrine once more, especially during the

2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis The Venezuelan presidential crisis is an ongoing political crisis concerning the leadership and the legitimate president of Venezuela; the office of the president has been contested since 10 January 2019, with the Responses to the Venezuelan p ...

Criticism

Most of the critics of the doctrine were directed toward whether it was morally and politically valid or not that the Mexican government stayed " neutral" in the presence of governments categorized as

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...

, who would later serve a two-year term as the

during the

administration, criticized Mexico's foreign policy in 1987:Pereña-Gracía (2001), p. 36

References

Sources