Today's Mexico is strongly determined to become a full player in the globalizing international economy. It has increased its manufacturing output in areas such as automobiles and electronics, and both corporate and government sectors would like to take greater strides toward being a full global player. But do the underlying institutional and cultural elements exist to support such an economic effort?

In "The End of Nostalgia," editor Diana Villiers Negroponte and colleagues from both sides of the Rio Grande examine the path that Mexico will likely take in the near future. It remains a...