On this Cinco de Mayo, raise a toast to “Global Mexico.

” After decades of defining

its international role with reference to the United States, Mexico is looking
further afield. The government of President Enrique Peña Nieto is groping for a new
strategic vision appropriate for a nation whose commercial, political, and cultural
links extend far beyond its northern neighbor.

But assuming a new global role will require psychological as well as policy
adjustments. Mexico must update its longstanding attachment to nonintervention and
sovereignty to an era of interdependence. It must become less coy about defining
and asserting its national interests. And it must educate its inward-looking
population about their stakes in an open, rules-bound international order. These
were the main conclusions I drew from a fascinating conference earlier this week at
the Mexican Foreign Ministry on “Global Mexico: Interests and Principles of Foreign
Policy,” where I had the privilege of delivering a keynote address.