The Future of U.S.-Mexico Relations: Strategic Foresight

Overview

This project critically examined the U.S.-Mexico relationship, applying strategic foresight methods to identify the variables that will likely impact the future health of the binational relationship, project the possible outcomes of the relationship under the current political climate, and examine the broader challenges that the U.S. and Mexico will face in the coming decades. The project also proposed optimal scenarios and policy recommendations to share with policymakers in the United States and Mexico.

The edited volume "The Future of US-Mexico Relations: Strategic Foresight" is the culmination of this major research effort. Employing a strategic foresight methodology, the authors use past trends and identify pivotal drivers to predict, based on indicators, at least three possible outcomes for the next few decades: a baseline or continuity scenario and an optimistic and a pessimitic one. Each chapter explores the future of the U.S.-Mexico relation focusing on relevant topics such as trade, immigration, the environment, drugs, health, security, among others. Most chapters are co-written by scholars from the United States and Mexico.

Fall Webinar Series

Throughout the 2020 fall semester, the project partners hosted a series of webinars to present the edited volume and showcase the issues and authors.

Webinar/Registration	Date	Hosted by
The Future of US-Mexico Relations: Politics and Diplomacy	Mon., September 14, 2020 1:30 p.m.	Center for the United States and Mexico, Rice University's Baker Institute
Texas-Mexico Border: Trade, Security and Immigration	Tue., October 6, 2020 4:00 p.m.	Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center, Southern Methodist University
U.S.-Mexico Cooperation: Health Policy and Pandemics	Fri., October 16, 2020 10:00 a.m.	Center for US and Mexican Law, University of Houston Law Center
El Futuro de la Relación Bilateral México-Estados Unidos: Prospectiva Estratégica"	Thu., November 5, 2020 5:00 p.m.	Facultad de Derecho y Criminología, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
United States-Mexico: Trade and Economic Integration	Wed., November 11, 2020  6:00 p.m.	Escuela de Gobierno y Transformación Pública, Tecnológico de Monterrey
U.S.-Mexico Cooperation: National Security, Public Safety and Defense	Wed., November 18, 2020 12:30 p.m.	Departamento de Estudios Internacionales, Universidad Iberoamericana

Project Partners

• Baker Institute Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University
• Center for U.S. and Mexican Law at the University of Houston Law Center
• Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center at Southern Methodist University
• School of Government and Public Transformation at Tecnológico de Monterrey
• International Studies Department at Universidad Iberoamericana
• Faculty of Law and Criminology at Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León

 

The authors and the issues focused on are:

Back to the Future: Mexico and the United States

Ana Covarrubias, El Colegio de México

Peter Smith, University of California, San Diego

Forecasting the Next 25 Years of the U.S.-Mexico Public Safety and Security Relationship

Nathan J. Jones, Sam Houston State University

Samuel González Ruiz, Centro de Estudios de Política Criminal y Ciencias Penales, A.C.

U.S. and Mexico Future Security and Defense Scenarios: From Convergence to Divergence?

Abelardo Rodríguez Sumano, Universidad Iberoamericana

Richard Kilroy, Coastal Carolina University

Environmental Protection on the Mexico-U.S. Border: Three Scenarios

Stephen Mumme, Colorado State University

Irasema Coronado, University of Texas at El Paso

Edmundo Molina Pérez, Tecnológico de Monterrey

Economic Relations Between Mexico and the United States: The Future of an Inevitable Partnership

Antonio Ortiz Mena, Albright Stonebridge Group

The Future of the U.S.-Mexico Relationship: Strategic Foresight on International Migration

Karla Valenzuela, Universidad Iberoamerica

Lindsay Lowell, Georgetown University

The U.S.-Mexico Borderlands: Exploring Alternative Futures

Jason Ackleson, Baker Institute Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University

Guadalupe Correa Cabrera, George Mason University

A Foresight Analysis of Border Economies of the United States and Mexico

Jesús Cañas, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Raúl Alberto Ponce Rodríguez, Universidad Autonóma de Ciudad Juárez

Fossil Fuels Trade Between Mexico and the United States: Possible Scenarios During the López Obrador-Trump Era

Isidro Morales Moreno, Tecnológico de Monterrey

Pilar Rodríguez, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León

The Future of U.S.-Mexico Relations: Renewable Energy and Electric Power Connections

Gina Warren, University of Houston

U.S.-Mexico Relations from a Health Law Approach: Prospective Elements for Integrated National Healthcare Models 

Alfonso López de la Osa Escribano, University of Houston Law Center

U.S.-Mexico Border: Non-Communicable And Communicable Health Inequalities

Eva Moya, University of Texas at El Paso

Silvia Chavez-Baray, Univeristy of Texas at El Paso

Peter Hotez, Baylor College of Medicine

Political and Economic Trends in Mexico and their Effects on U.S.-Mexico's Binational Relationship

Jesús Guillermo Velasco, Tarleton State University

Joy Langston, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas

Socio-Demographic, Cultural and Political Change in the United States: Three Scenarios on the U.S.-Mexico Relationship

Daniel Tichenor, University of Oregon

Tony Payan, Baker Institute Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University

The Future of U.S.-Mexico Relations: The Role of Sub-State Governments

Jorge Schiavon Uriegas, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas

Lucas McMillan, Lander University

Texas-Mexico Economic Integration and its Uncertain Future

Michael Cox, Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business

Richard Alm, Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business