Youth building the future: The political economy of the adoption of a youth policy in Mexico

Cervantes Gómez, José Antonio (2025) Youth building the future: The political economy of the adoption of a youth policy in Mexico. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis presents a single qualitative case study that examines the main material and ideational factors behind the adoption of the youth policy ‘Jóvenes Construyendo el Futuro‘ (JCF) (Youth Building the Future) in Mexico in 2019. The JCF is an eclectic, broad-based youth policy that combines elements of conditional cash transfer, work-based training and social inclusion that, by 2023, had supported more than 2.3 million young people ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET) aged 18 to 29. Historically, most youth policies in Mexico and Latin America have been small-scale ‘upskilling’ interventions. Therefore, most research typically focuses on implementation or labour, social, or economic impacts, overlooking the adoption phase. For these reasons, both because of its scale and its underlying rationale, the JCF appears as a paradigmatic policy.

This thesis employs a combined analytical approach of Cultural Political Economy (CPE) and the Policy Cycle Model (PCM). Methodologically, the study is built on the triangulation of interviews with key informants from the public, private, and social sectors and the analysis of a variety of primary and secondary policy documents. The data was analysed using iterative coding within Thematic Analysis (TA). The findings reveal how several intertwined material and ideational factors explain the adoption of this youth policy. A stern anti-neoliberal stance provided the framework for the leftist MORENA government that won the presidency in 2018 to reinterpret the problems that plagued millions of NEET youth as a direct consequence of the neoliberal development model (1980s - 2018) portrayed as the cause of high levels of poverty, informal employment and lack of opportunities. This problematisation led to the design of an intervention with elements of universality and lax conditionality for the target population, which is uncommon in social policies in Mexico. Despite inevitable disagreements with the private sector in defining the rules of the programme, the overwhelming electoral legitimacy and political-administrative leverage resulted in an expeditious adoption of the JCF.

This thesis contributes various conceptual, empirical, and theoretical insights to current debates on the relationship between development models and the type of welfare institutions that can support the construction of new social bases in contexts of high labour informality, among others, all this amidst significant political-ideological shifts.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Supported by funding from the College of Social Sciences (CoSS) PhD Scholarship (September2020-August 2023).
• Subjects: L Education > L Education (General); L Education > LB Theory and practice of education
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Education
• Supervisor's Name: Valiente, Professor Oscar, Capsada-Munsech, Dr. Queralt and Zancajo, Dr. Adrián
• Date of Award: 2025
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2025-84995
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 27 Mar 2025 15:07
• Last Modified: 28 Mar 2025 10:05
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.84995
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/84995