Objective/context:

Contemporary cities are strategical to process global governance. Both in the Global North and South, there is a growing interest to identify and analyze the city´s capacities to assume that global role. With this context, the objective of this research was to test the analytical strategy of denationalization to study a global process of Mexico City.

Methodology:

With an interdisciplinary and qualitative approach, and putting on dialogue to global sociology with theories of international relations (foreign policy of cities), this research used the analytical strategy of denationalization to understand how the global get from within nation-states. To deepen this process of denationalization, I used the case study of Mexico City, its foreign policy and its actions under the label of Sanctuary City.

Conclusions:

According to the analytical approach developed and the findings (the assistance approach and no rights to attend migrants and the non-recognition of multiple belongings of migrants) this research concludes that the micro, as a scale of the global, is useful to understand the contemporary global processes beyond state-centric perspectives.

Originality:

The original contribution of this research is to place the global as processes that occur within nation-states, and forward in the study of foreign policy not only related to states but also practiced by other actors.