A Geographic Interpretation of State Failure - Mexico From 1521 to 1848
Abstract
This study offers a geographic interpretation of state failure using the case study of Mexico from 1521, when Cortés conquered the Aztecs, to 1848 when the United States defeated Mexico in the Mexican American War. This dissertation demonstrates that Mexico is an ideal case for utilizing the method of geographic interpretation on failing states because of Spain and Mexico’s territorial contraction from the late 1700s until 1848. This geographic interpretation examines Spain and Mexico’s failure by highlighting the geographic facts that influenced this process of decline that can be called Hispano-Mexican State Failure. Through examining the geographic influences on the historical events on the North American continent, this dissertation explains an old story in a new way. To assist in visually telling the story of Hispano-Mexican State Failure, maps are used throughout this dissertation to reinforce a fundamental idea of this project, that a state cannot evenly control its territory and that a state’s power decays as it moves away from its capital. Lastly, this study assessed how well this geographic interpretation of state failure aided in teaching undergraduate students the basic concepts of political geography and state failure. The results from this learning experiment found that the maps used in the dissertation’s geographic interpretation did not improve a student’s learning outcomes when compared to using traditional images used to teach state failure and political geography.
Citation
Keenen, Daniel Benjamin (2023). A Geographic Interpretation of State Failure - Mexico From 1521 to 1848. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /199847.