Research Library

This October the U.S. and Mexico agreed on a new bilateral security program, but "unless the United States and Mexico pursue domestic structural reforms ... both nations risk backsliding to the failures of the drug wars," writes MGA student and Drug Policy guest contributor Sidney Phillips.

"Perhaps surprisingly, the latest national data published by the U.S. Department of Labor suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has not given small businesses greater cause for concern over the cost of health care benefits," writes McNair scholar Alisha Small. Read her post on the Baker Institute Blog.

The “Energy, Environment, and Policy in the U.S.” map is an online, interactive tool to visualize and highlight the geospatial nexus of energy, environment, policy, and society in the United States. It displays the nation’s critical energy infrastructure, environmental points of interest, and relevant election and demographic statistics at different levels of granularity. This allows the users to effectively navigate key energy and environmental issues with a clear and complete picture of the nation’s infrastructure and demography.

In 2005, former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, co-chaired the Commission on Federal Election Reform, which produced a report on the U.S. electoral process and recommendations on maximizing ballot access and election integrity. In June 2021, The Carter Center and the Baker Institute held five webinars that again examined critical challenges facing the U.S. electoral system. This report includes the results of the discussions.

Texas social studies curriculum standards do not give public school students the balanced coverage of religion they need to function effectively in an increasingly diverse society, contends the author. His comparison of equivalent curriculum standards in five culturally similar states identifies lessons Texas can learn from its counterparts.

With center-right President Emmanuel Macron facing off against extreme-right Marine Le Pen, what’s in store for the French presidential election next April? In a new brief, Baker Institute faculty scholar Julie Fette and William Tsai, Rice '24, examine the polls, platforms and possibilities.

Three of Argentina's provinces are the largest oil and gas producers in the country. In each one, the governor's political power took a blow in last Sunday's primaries.

With its significant reserves of critical metals and other geographic advantages, Chile is well positioned to help enable the energy transition. The authors discuss the country's leveraging of its copper and lithium resources and its growing trade with China.

Argentina's September primaries thwarted the plans of MPN party leaders in Neuquén province, home to the Vaca Muerta shale play. With the current elections, power in the region may be shifting.

A bitter dispute about one of Poland's largest lignite mines — the source of electricity for millions, jobs for thousands, and serious environmental concerns for the region — highlights the hurdles communities around the world could face during attempts to phase out coal.