Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies

One of the most heated debates over Mexico’s ratification of the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court dealt with a violation of the non bis in idem principle. Whether one agrees with the jurisdiction of the ICC or not, what came to light with this disagreement is that the Mexican Constitution might be at odds with international human rights standards with regard to this Principle. Consequently, there is a need to make a comparative assessment between both bodies of law. While the obvious starting point is Article 23 of the Mexican Constitution, which states this principle, an extensive study cannot stop there but must include its judicial interpretation. Furthermore, only the precedents that seem to stretch the application of the principle will be considered, because it is through these borderline cases that we can establish the extent of the Principle (It should be noted that this approach is not common, since there is no system of precedents in Mexico; however, it is only through the judicial gloss that we can ascertain the extent of the Principle). Next I will examine (using the same method) International Human Rights Law, in particular the American Convention on Human Rights, because it is the only international instrument that includes a non bis in idem provision that applies to Mexico. Once the descriptive part of the paper is done, there will be enough material to make a full comparative analysis to determine whether Mexican regulation of non bis in idem fulfills international human rights standards and, in case this is answered in the negative, what is needed to comply.

En el contexto de la fase actual de globalización, las economías latinoamericanas han reaccionado a los retos a los que han de enfrentarse para competir en un entorno abierto, con ajustes intensos en sus respectivos mercados laborales. A pesar de la presencia de situaciones heterogéneas, este articulo desarrolla una hipótesis analítica que interpreta como el ajuste de los mercados laborales latinoamericanos se ha llevado a cabo a través de una triple vía que combina el ascenso del empleo informal, el incremento del desempleo abierto y la expansión de la brecha salarial, acompañando a la practica de una moderación intensa de los salarios reales en la región. La ausencia de dinamismo tecnológico propio en la región no facilita el desarrollo de otras alternativas de ajuste o adaptación a la globalización que promuevan economías más competitivas. De este modo, el tipo de ajuste llevado a cabo en estos años abre paso a un nuevo episodio de lo que hace décadas los economistas cepalinos denominaron “el circulo vicioso de la pobreza”. Este paper es una primera aproximación al objeto de investigación.

While Mexico made great gains in consolidating democracy in 1997 and 2000, these advances risk being severely undermined by doubts surrounding the 2006 election. This article contends that the 2006 pre-electoral environment is, if for different reasons, at least as fragile as that in 2000. If proper measures are not taken to improve electoral playing field transparency and levelness and to help ensure the winner’s selection through a process accepted by all and with broad participation, post-electoral mobilization and short-term ingovernability are possible outcomes. We focus on emerging challenges posed by profligate campaign spending and the lack of disclosure which threaten to delimit the presidential election outcome months ahead of the race. We conclude that greater international attention should be paid to these elections, and suggest that Mexico’s voters and international observers should heed important experimental civil society, media, and academic initiatives to systematically monitor “playing field” levelness.

This paper analyzes the budgetary choices of municipal governments in Mexico. Using a panel data approach that includes most municipalities in the country throughout the 1990-2001 period, I investigate to what extent local democracy has stimulated municipal governments to increase their investments on basic infrastructure projects, rather than expanding their bureaucratic apparatuses. My findings suggest that only under a decentralized policy setting, the competitiveness of the electoral arena has a positive influence on the provision of local public goods. I also find evidence that basic infrastructure spending increases when local elections are held, and when the local mayor belongs to a different party than the state governor.

This paper addresses the relationship between the Mexican government and the organized Mexican immigrant community in the United States from a historical perspective and within a framework of transnational politics. We argue that transnational relations between the Mexican government and Mexican immigrants in the United States are not new; however, these relations vary across time depending on political and economic circumstances that involve U.S.-Mexico relations. These historical links have provided the basis for the existence of current organizations of Mexican immigrants in the United States as well as the recent creation and development of the Mexican government’s institutions to manage this relationship. In recent years, we identify a change in Mexico’s traditional approach to migration issues in the bilateral agenda, as well as a shift in the relationship between the Mexican immigrant communities and the government. The process of institutionalization of this new relation began with the Program for Mexican Communities Abroad (PCME, in Spanish) in 1990, and was strongly consolidated in 2003 with the creation of the Institute of Mexicans Abroad (IME, in Spanish). We argue that the IME is the first Mexican governmental transnational institution in the history of relations between the Mexican government and the Mexican community in the United States. As such, we explore some of the challenges it faces in order to achieve its objectives and exert influence in American ethnic politics.

In the first part of the paper we present a theoretical overview about the historical perspective of transnational politics. The second part offers a historical account of the development of the transnational relations between the Mexican government and the organized Mexican immigrant community in the last 156 years. In the third part, we analyze the challenges faced by the IME and its potential influence in American ethnic politics. Finally, we conclude with a section of remarks from both theoretical and empirical standpoints.

To what extent American cities are evolving towards a model in which their government is (or is not) adapting its structure to their growing Mexican immigrant population? What are the main factors for such transformation to take place? What is the role of the Mexican government in the process? This paper addresses these questions from two different perspectives, one local, and one transnational.

The flow of money sent home by Mexican migrants in the United States has grown impressively since 1990. New actors, new practices, as well as new economic and political interests have emerged around this process. This presentation will analyze recent trends in migrant remittances to Mexico as well as the socio-demographic, economic, and political developments associated with their growth. It will also examine the remittance behavior of Mexican migrants who settled in the U.S., and the official discourses disseminated by the Mexican state about the impact and role of migrant remittances in Mexico.

The author argues that in the mainstream study of ethnic American politics, the Mexican community cannot be considered anymore a monolithic group, whose political behavior is one and the same all over the United States. Mexican communities living in the United States have different origins in Mexico, and they go through different experiences of political mobilization, organization, and incorporation through their daily lives in American cities. The initiatives of the local Catholic Church to mobilize the community, the relations of the local church with the local government, and the use of religious symbols with political purposes, are the main components that make the difference.

El objetivo que nos planteamos en este trabajo es examinar los posibles efectos que tanto el trabajo extra-doméstico femenino como el empoderamiento de la mujer puedan tener sobre dos aspectos particulares del bienestar familiar en México: la erradicación de la violencia hacia la mujer y la mayor participación de los hombres en el cuidado y crianza de los hijos.

In this brief piece, I would like to discuss some interesting aspects of Samuel P. Huntington’s article, “The Hispanic Challenge” (Foreign Policy, March/April 2004). I will focus mostly on the Mexican side of the story, with the aim to highlight confusing statements that any serious scholar can rarely afford to make, without expecting a strong reaction from his American peers, particularly, the Latino ones.