Research Library

This paper presents a simple dynamic growth model of investment, consumption, passive military spending, and active military spending for an oil-exporting country. It argues that under conditions of significant geopolitical strife, a country might engage in a military conflict of limited scope and extent to drive up oil prices and revenues.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was elected to a third consecutive and fourth overall term as president Sunday. While Ortega has successfully revitalized Nicaragua’s economy, his reelection signals a return toward an authoritarian power structure that dismantles the country’s democratic progress.

Criminal extortion is on the rise in Mexico, particularly along the northern border states. Author Gary Hale shows how this trend has fueled government corruption, with officials implicitly or explicitly aiding organized crime groups as they extort businesses and citizens.

This blog post examines a Mexican senator's push to amend Mexico's Constitution to emulate the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and allow Mexico's citizens to carry handguns for personal protection.

Colombians on Sunday (10/2) voted against a peace deal with FARC negotiated by President Juan Manuel Santos. What are the potential ramifications of the vote, and the prospects for resolving the country's decades-long confict with the rebel group?

President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia promised that if his administration negotiated peace with the guerrilla group FARC, he would bring the agreement to the people for ratification. But his request for a plebiscite (a type of referendum) quickly turned into a clash between Santos and former President Alvaro Uribe, whose Centro Democrático party is leading a campaign against the agreement. Read more at the Houston Chronicle Blog: http://bit.ly/2cTT8zB

This issue brief offers insights into the evolution and future of Mexico's Comprehensive Plan for the Southern Border to stem migration flows from Central America.

A successful coup in Turkey would have further complicated U.S. foreign policy toward the country, fellow Joe Barnes writes in a new post for the Baker Institute Blog.

This issue brief examines how globalization has aided the spread of transnational organized crime and the challenges to combating it.

On June 23, voters in the United Kingdom made history by voting for their country to leave the European Union. Joe Barnes, the Bonner Means Baker Fellow, examines what "Brexit" – or British exit – means for the United States.