Research Library

With Mexico's 2024 elections quickly approaching, will democracy prevail, or will the nation backslide into a one-party system?

Sen. Xochitl Gálvez, the Mexican opposition nominee for president, chose to visit a suburb north of Houston for her first campaign event abroad. Research scholar Rodrigo Montes de Oca explains why it was a smart choice — and what the visit shows about the dark horse candidate.

This brief examines the four economic pillars that are often credited with bolstering Mexico’s economy in 2019 and 2020 to determine how quickly the nation's economy will bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jose Ivan Rodriguez-Sanchez, the postdoctoral research fellow in international trade for the Center for the U.S. and Mexico, analyzes the economic impact of COVID-19 travel restrictions on the tourism industry of Texas border counties, many of which depend on Mexicans entering the U.S. and spending billions of dollars each year.

Mexico’s electoral authorities made several poor decisions in the two most recent election cycles. This brief examines these decisions in light of the continued fragility of Mexico's political institutions, and it argues that all rulings are pivotal for the credibility of future elections and the consolidation of Mexico’s democracy.

Corruption is a complex social, political and institutional problem that is difficult to define. This brief describes the challenges involved in defining, understanding and measuring corruption and evaluates the case study of Mexico, where corruption has increased in recent years, to illustrate these complexities.

Houston and Harris County area law enforcement leaders weigh in on the need for drug policy reforms in the United States.

With the Texas Legislature now considering several bills that would decrease penalties for marijuana possession and legalize the use of medical marijuana to treat a variety of conditions, authors William Martin and Katharine A. Neill present updated findings in this new issue brief that support the case for reforming marijuana policy in Texas.

Drug Policy Program director Bill Martin summarizes the scientific and fiscal evidence supporting the efficacy of syringe exchange programs and outlines a framework for public policies to deal with this aspect of drug use and abuse.

Using charts, figures and graphs of this survey data originally created by former career intelligence analyst Brian C. Bennett and updated by the Drug Policy Program, this issue brief offers an overview of drug use trends in America over the last four decades. The brief is part of a larger online project chronicling the pattern of the use and abuse of individual drugs over (in most cases) more than 40 years.