Research Library

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.

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.

We are in the midst of one of the largest and most rapid humanitarian evacuation missions in American history. Where will fleeing Afghans go? Middle East fellow Kelsey Norman describes an inadequate U.S. response and recommends ways forward.

Although Texans broadly support relaxing cannabis laws and other criminal justice reforms, state leaders continue the war on drugs and other policies that propagate systemic racism, writes fellow Katharine Neill Harris.

Marriage. Divorce. Custody. Tunisia is often considered a women's rights leader among Arab Spring countries. But women still can't equally share an inheritance. The authors explore the secular and Islamist debate.

Gabriel Collins, the Baker Botts Fellow in Energy and Environmental Regulatory Affairs, explains why Section 625 of the CLEAN Future Act — which aims to classify oilfield-produced water as a hazardous waste — would likely induce multi-system disruptions severe enough to prevent the act from achieving its climate, energy, environmental, and social objectives.

Based on the results of a survey conducted in March 2021, the authors argue that Mexico's asylum system can be strengthened by bolstering transnational cooperation between Mexican civil society organizations and U.S. policymakers and NGOs.

Fellow Katharine Neill Harris testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on the failed war on drugs and solutions based on racial justice and harm reduction.

What are Mexico's prospects for immigration, trade and more, after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's virtual meeting with President Biden? "Mexico will have to do some heavy lifting," predicts Tony Payan, director of the Center for the United States and Mexico.

Immigration is not only a domestic issue for the United States, but a regional one. This brief lays out a policy framework to address the root causes of migration from Mexico and Central America and promote legal, orderly mobility.