In June 2023, the international boundary treaty governing the U.S.-Mexico border came under attack from Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lonestar. In a new research paper, nonresident scholars Stephen Mumme and Regina M. Buono outline the treaty’s history and examine key issues — advising on merits of recent challenges and long-term implications for the binational relationship between the United States and Mexico.
This research paper profiles the current state of water management along the U.S.-Mexico border and examines the prospects for binational cooperation in confronting two main challenges — rising water demand and the persistent, long-term diminishment of the region's reliable riparian water supply.
The 2021 Texas legislative session is known as the most conservative in a generation, but its ideological and partisan dynamics tell a more nuanced story. Political science fellow Mark Jones utilizes roll call vote data to improve our understanding of how the controversial session unfolded. Read his report below.
Through an examination of crime patterns in a major urban center in Latin America — Mexico City— this study contributes to the development of a theoretical and empirical understanding of criminal activity and its correlation with space and time.
This paper outlines proposals that integrate economic development and nature to address our region’s flood problems, as well as structural solutions that serve multiple purposes.
Jim Blackburn, Elizabeth Winston-JonesDecember 19, 2019
This report, produced in collaboration with the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs, analyzes findings of a survey on Houstonians’ views on the candidates in the Houston mayoral race: http://bit.ly/2PavYL9.
Mark P. Jones, Renee Cross, Richard Murray, Agustín VallejoOctober 20, 2019
A 1944 U.S.-Mexico water treaty still in effect is one of the world’s finest examples of binational cooperation in managing shared transboundary water resources. The author explains why, concluding that such an agreement could not be reached in today's political climate.