Institutionalized Corruption and the Myth of the Multinational: The Logic of the Industrial Pollution of the Santiago River, Jalisco

Abstract

In this text, the aim is to develop a theoretical explanation for the degradation of the Santiago River in Jalisco, based on the notions of institutionalized corruption and the myth of the multinational. To this end, beginning with analyses of the “neoliberalization of nature”, I examine market environmentalism as a response to the ecological crises brought on by the tendency of capitalist production, and particularly its current neoliberal form, to degrade its conditions of production and nature more broadly. I subsequently analyze the adaptation of market environmentalism “for poor countries”, leading to environmental regulations that empower the private sector, as exemplified in Mexican legislation. On the basis of field research, I subsequently present a summary of empirical findings that support the hypothesis of institutionalized corruption. Finally, the conclusions address how the regulation of industrial wastewater in Mexico reflects the bias of market environmentalism in its version “for poor countries”, based on unverifiable assumptions regarding the compliance of transnational companies or what I propose to call the “myth of multinationals”.