This research aims to understand whether and how group-based inequality (horizontal inequality) in post-conflict countries is correlated with and affected (positively or negatively) by loans and projects from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The project employs a mixed methods approach in order to understand whether and what the correlation looks like, and will attempt to also understand why those patterns exist (or do not).

My thesis centres on the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 2017-19 to understand the long-term implications of Mexico’s integrationist development strategy. It builds on the legal text of the old (NAFTA) and new (USMCA) trade agreements, extensive media coverage of the negotiations, and over 60 interviews conducted with negotiators, politicians, business and union leaders in Mexico, the United States, and Canada.