Two important and innovative studies on the increasingly complex and important subject of U.S. relations with its large southern neighbor. In Limits to Friendship, two accomplished scholar-practitioners analyze why the U.S.-Mexican relationship is so often frustrating and conflict-ridden. In alternate and reciprocal chapters, they vividly illustrate the fact that the two countries are divided not only by vast asymmetries of power but also by a shared history each remembers and understands very differently. The Bilateral Commission report strives hard to overcome the differences and to present analyses and policy recommendations that can be endorsed by members of both the Mexican and the U.S. establishments; within the recognized limits of such consensual reports this volume is forthright on recommending that Mexico's debt service obligations be limited to levels consistent with the country's growth, and in proposing specific reforms on trade, immigration and investment policy.
