Mobilizing Debt and Forging the Nation: Oil Expropriation, Public Donations, and State Formation in Mexico

• In Event: 40420 - Section on Political Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 5: Neoliberal Politics 2

Abstract

How does debt serve as both a tool of state formation and a mechanism for reshaping nation-making? This article investigates how the material and moral dimensions of exchange practices during political-economic crises create opportunities for national solidarity and contribute to state-building processes. I do so by tracing how Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas, in the aftermath of the expropriation of foreign oil companies in Mexico in 1938, mobilized civil society nationwide to contribute donations toward paying the debt owed to the expropriated foreign companies. Through a systematic analysis of a large corpus of telegrams sent to Cárdenas by various social sectors in support of the expropriation, state communications, and historical reports from the economic institutions involved in the collection and valuation of donations, I demonstrate how debt can serve as an opportunity for nation-making. Ultimately, the mobilization of oil debt included multiple channels through which groups could participate in the national project, thus fostering the democratic participation of diverse ethnic groups, genders, age groups, social classes, and individuals according to their material capacities. Some exchanges follow explicit rules, making them predictable, while other exchanges are shaped by social norms and informal expectations. Some actors participated through the hierarchical institutions in which they were already embedded, while others operated outside of formal institutional directives. Analyzing how economic mobilizations create social solidarity helps us understand how debt can also serve as a tool for nation-building.

Author

• Christian Javier Castro-Martinez, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor