Reports
Mexico’s political system faces a defining moment
Less than a year ahead of a presidential election, Mexicans have lost faith in the political establishment. Enter Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who promises to end corruption and crony capitalism. He is leading the polls, but his unpredictability and criticism of free markets has business leaders spooked. The main parties ...
Latin America exerts more power through New Regionalism
Latin American countries are beginning to develop a stronger sense of regional identity and with it a collective power. Several new regional organisations are emerging to portray this collective identity and to develop interests in trade and in common standards of governance, human rights and democracy. LATIN American cou...
Analysts – and voters - wonder whether Mexico will sink any lower
Despite an encouraging start to his term just over two years ago, Enrique Pena Nieto is the only Mexican president in the past 25 years to poll at less than 50 per cent approval with the public. His problems include lower oil prices, inadequate tax revenues, organised crime and corruption. ...
Recession fears put Mexico's economic reforms at risk
Since Enrique Pena Nieto became President of Mexico in December 2012, commentators around the world have concentrated on its economic potential and programme of reforms, rather than its crime rate. But this favourable perspective of the nation is in danger of being short-lived as it moves into recession and protests ...
Security remains an issue as Mexico and the US improve relations
Trade, investment and education made the headlines when US President Barack Obama and new Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto held talks on May 2, 2013. But gun control, drugs and immigration are still key issues for both men and there is a lack of trust between their intelligence communities, which ...
Mexico’s next president must deliver on election promises
The mainstay of President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto was a promise to undertake structural reforms to improve the lives of Mexicans throughout the country. In the second of a two-part series on his election, we look at the prospects and obstacles for those reforms, in particular on energy, the labour market, ...
The hopes and fears surrounding Mexico’s next president
The election of Enrique Pena Nieto as president of Mexico will reinstate the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) at the head of the country’s politics - 12 years after it lost power in 2000. Its reputation then was one of autocracy and corruption, but the newly-elected president has given it a ...
Mexican voters leave it late to select a president
Enrique Pena Nieto is the firm favourite to win the first round of Mexico’s presidential election but 15 to 20 per cent of the country’s 75 million voters have still to decide who to support. Victory for Mr Pena Nieto will mean a return to power for the PRI which ...
Mexico reforms higher education finance - but is subsidising demand the way forward?
There is wide consensus within emerging economies that their futures are closely tied to their success in expanding and enhancing their labour force through greater access to higher and further education. And as they try to improve efficiency, diversity and quality, governments are looking to increase the share of the ...
Mexico election: Josefina Vazquez Mota claims women’s vote in presidential race
Support for Josefina Vazquez Mota is growing in the race for the next President of Mexico. She has shaken up the election race as the first female candidate selected by a main political party. Her popularity is growing with a campaign focussing on women’s liberation as one of the major ...
Guatemala’s new president Otto Perez Molina raises an ‘iron fist’ to the drug cartels
Otto Perez Molina has come to power in Guatemala promising to clamp down on violence, particularly in relation to drug trafficking and organised crime, to improve citizen security. It is one of Central America's most violent countries with a murder rate twice that of Mexico. But there are concerns that ...
Geopolitics: Mexico education - can there be reform?
If Mexico's education system were given an end of term report card it would read: 'Could do better', says GIS expert Dr Pauline Dixon in this briefing. But what will the country's incoming president do to raise standards and how will the new government confront one of its biggest challenges ...
Geopolitics: Can politicians meet the expectations of Mexico's people?
The people of Mexico have a higher standard of living and expect more of politicians and officials than ever. But they are concerned about corruption, a rising crime rate and poor public services. GIS guest expert, Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center,Washington DC, examines ...
Briefing: Polls swing towards ousted party as Mexico ramps up for elections
It promises to be a long, rough campaign for the presidency of Mexico. But the main question is - will the people, who turned their back on the Institutional Revolutionary Party which ruled as a one-party state for seven decades until 2000, vote it back into power? asks GIS expert ...
