Research Library

Stephen Mumme, nonresident scholar at the Center for the United States and Mexico, explores the recent Rio Grande water war and its temporary resolution, arguing that the 1944 water treaty has once again proven resilient and adaptable to the challenges confronting both the United States and Mexico as they share their transboundary water resources.

Immigration policy will look very different in a Trump or Joe Biden presidency. This brief summarizes changes that have occurred under the Trump administration so far and examines the repercussions of the November election on four aspects of immigration policy.

This brief examines the legality of the decrees issued by the National Center for the Control of Energy (CENACE) and the Department of Energy (SENER) in Mexico earlier this year, which were intended to prevent renewable energy companies from connecting to the transmission grid.

The author analyzes some important new provisions in the USMCA that were not part of earlier USMCA briefs in this series.

This paper tracks a change in the direction of Mexico’s energy policy under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — a change that inhibits private investment while attempting to restore Pemex’s oil monopoly.

Mexico’s 2013 energy reform, which opened its hydrocarbon and electricity industries to private investors, increased the autonomy and independence of its regulatory commissions. However, recent decisions by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador now threaten these institutions, writes nonresident scholar Miriam Grunstein.

Energy fellow Rachel A. Meidl examines federal and international efforts to assess the safe transport of crude oil by rail and to specifically consider the roles of vapor pressure and volatility in accident scenarios.

Lebanon faces significant developmental challenges, including insufficient electricity supply, environmental degradation and staggering inequality, yet the government has not invested in these areas despite substantial economic growth in recent decades. This student brief uses agenda-setting theory to argue that Lebanon’s disappointing record of development is reflected in the narrow political agenda of the government. This brief is part of a two-year project on pluralism and inclusion in the Middle East post-Arab Spring. The project is generously supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

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.

In its primacy over trade matters under the U.S. Constitution, Congress has broad authority over new and existing trade agreements and could seek to block a "modernized" NAFTA that excludes Canada.  Whether Congress has the political will or the votes to do so remains to be seen.