| Nowadays, regional economic integration has been developing continuously, of which not only the quantity of member countries has increased rapidly, but also the heterogeneous character of the member countries has been distinct. The establishment and successful operation of North American Free Trade Area have broken the traditional model which regional economic integration only can be set up among the homogeneous countries. As the typical representative of south-north regionaleconomic integration, what influence NAFTA has brought to Mexico——the onlydeveloping country in this agreement and what happened to Mexico due to this agreement within its implementation for 14 years? To study this subject will be great meaningful for developing countries to comprehend correctly and join in south-north regional economic integration better.This thesis consists of four chapters in addition to Preface and Conclusion.Chapter one introduces the general of developing countries joining in regional economic integration. Firstly, the author generalizes the meaning in theory, development trend and characteristic of regional economic integration. Secondly, the author looks back the main practice of developing countries joining in regional economic integration from 1960's and analyses the reasons therein. Finally, the author contends the south-north free trade area is the primary direction for developing countries.Chapter two analyses the basic background of Mexico participating in NAFTA. In this section, the author presents the development process and characteristic of NAFTA, as a typical case of south-north free trade area, as well as strategic choices of Mexico participating in NAFTA from economic, political and international levels.Chapter three emphasizes on analyzing the legal and economic influence of NAFTA to Mexico. The author sets about discussing it separately from the aspect of trade rules, investment substantial rules and its dispute settlement rules, and labor standards rules.Chapter four summarizes some experiences and lessons from the Mexico participating in NAFTA, which can be used for reference for developing countries to join in and make full use of the advantage of south-north regional economic integration. As far as the facts of China participating in south-north regional economic integration are concerned, the author puts forwards some simple proposals. |
