From Transnational to Translation: Public Sector Reform Programmes in Mexico and Spain (1979–2013)

Abstract

In this thesis I explain the differences and similarities between Mexico and Spain by analysing how transnational actors and historical–institutional contexts shaped their public sector reform trajectories from 1979 to 2013.
I combine Historical Institutionalism (HI) and Interpretive Policy Analysis (IPA) to examine how transnational Public Sector Reform Programmes (PSRPs) acquired meaning within national administrations. HI traces the institutional legacies that filtered reform, while IPA—drawing on Jessop’s cultural political economy—shows how discourse and practice stabilised change. Through this lens, I explore how “magic concepts” such as democracy and anti-corruption legitimised reform through translation.
This qualitative analysis is based on more than 150 policy documents and institutional reports—including IMF, WB, OECD and EU materials, as well as national legislation—together with forty-seven interviews with officials, consultants and international actors in Mexico, Spain and the UK. Mexico and Spain constitute the core cases, with the UK used as a witness case for contrast.
In my comparison, I argue that transnational influence operated through translation rather than convergence. By analysing three dimensions—the channels of intervention, the arenas of translation, and the administrative traditions that conditioned reform outcomes—I explain how global repertoires and domestic legacies interacted to produce hybrid, path-dependent forms of public sector change.
Across both cases, international actors introduced ideas and models. However, their influence depended on how national governments reinterpreted these within their own practices and priorities. In Mexico, the IMF and WB drove reforms through financial conditions and project-based instruments, while OECD models were reframed around transparency and anti-corruption. Actual reforms reflected long-standing patterns of fiscal, political and legal control. In Spain, EU membership tied reform to European law and peer review, but its legal tradition reframed these influences through democratic ideals that legitimised modernisation and incorporated them into established routines. Both countries adopted global notions such as transparency and efficiency, yet these ideals were reshaped by enduring bureaucratic cultures that favoured continuity over change.

Date of Award	20 May 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bath
Supervisor	Emma Carmel (Supervisor) & Theodoros Papadopoulos (Supervisor)