Research Library

This study highlights areas where the U.S.-Mexico higher education mobility framework is strong and others where there is much to improve. Government, industry and other private partners must work together with higher education institutions to reverse the region’s downward trend of academic mobility. Collectively, leadership from within the higher education community along with partners in industry, government and the philanthropic community must create a framework for higher education mobility that is voluntary and flexible over time and that incentivizes investments that support long-term bilateral engagement.

Whether out of strategic calculations or due to attitude towards women, the outcome is the same: female candidates often do not follow the party route to political office in Bahrain.

Although there are enormous potential benefits for Mexico's energy sector in the future, there are also important challenges the country must overcome to fully realize its energy potential. One of them has to do with the land ownership and land use regime in Mexico. As the legislative debate on the new Ley de Petróleos and the Ley de la Comisión Federal de Electricidad (Petroleum Act and Federal Electric Utility Act) proceeded in the summer of 2014, the Mexican Congress anticipated potential land-related conflicts associated with exploration and production activities related to hydrocarbons and new energy-related infrastructure projects. These potential conflicts stem from the fact that all of these projects will necessarily require the right of way to access and work on the resources in the subsoil of privately owned as well as on so-called “socially owned” lands in regions targeted for energy development. Thus, the Mexican Congress sought to avoid land-related conflicts by including language related to land ownership and use in the new energy legislation. The legislation, however, may not be able to prevent such conflicts.

The decade 2003-2013 was an exceptional one for Latin America in social terms, but less clearly so in economic terms. Growth slowed down significantly after the exceptional factors that fed the 2003-2007 boom came to an end. The possible unwinding of the super-cycle in commodity prices and, to a lesser extent, of the expansionary monetary policy of the United States, has added new challenges. But the major issue is the need to overcome the poor long-term economic performance that has characterized the region in the post-market reforms period, particularly by adopting active production sector development strategies.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement offers an opportunity to deepen U.S.-Mexico economic ties without reopening the still contentious North American Free Trade Agreement for negotiation. It may also serve as a vehicle for advancing the current Mexican government’s economic reform agenda. The leaders of the U.S. and Mexico believe that the TPP will bolster domestic economic growth.

Academic mobility is critical for robust collaborations in education, research and innovation between the U.S. and Mexico. Governments in both countries, in cooperation with nongovernmental actors, should provide a framework to develop mechanisms that generate and sustain a meaningful exchange of students, faculty, and staff from educational institutions at all levels of post-secondary education.

The March 2013 election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as the pope of the Roman Catholic Church has noticeably affected politics in Argentina, where 77 percent of the population is Catholic. By Pablo Ava, professor, Universidad de Buenos Aires School of Law, and 2008 Americas Project Fellow

The BRICS clearly want something tangible to demonstrate their global prominence and the power of non-Western values. Russell Green examines the critical issues that must be resolved before the BRICS bank can open its doors.

Neal Lane, senior fellow in science and technology policy, testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on July 17, 2014. Lane is co-chair of the American Academy of Arts and Science's project on New Models for U.S. Science and Technology Policy, and his testimony addressed the project's objective of sustaining a long-term, nonpartisan, national focus on science and technology policy issues of vital importance to the country.