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.
The toll of Lebanon's dual governance system weighs heavily on the state and its governance structure. The author examines the current need to formalize the country's informal senate.
Women in Egypt achieved a historic increase in their legislative representation in 2015, securing 14.9 percent of seats in parliament. In this brief, Cairo University professor Mazen Hassan analyzes transcripts of parliamentary sessions to determine whether this increase in female parliamentarians had a noticeable impact on Egypt’s legislative agenda.
Building on the experiences of Hurricane Harvey, the authors present a summary of flooding issues in Harris County and discuss proposed local and federal projects in preparation for the upcoming flood bond election in August 2018.
By Tahani Al Terkait, Durham University
Two recent examples of gender politics in Kuwait reveal the challenges with women's integration in the socio-religious sphere of Kuwaiti society, writes the author.
This is the fourth brief resulting from a May 2018 workshop held in Kuwait by the Baker Institute in partnership with the Alsalam Center for Strategic and Developmental Studies. This work is part of a two-year project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York on “Building Pluralistic and Inclusive States Post-Arab Spring.”
By Hamad H. Albloshi, Kuwait University
The organization of the Kuwaiti political system is conducive to the successive rise and fall of pluralistic social movements, writes the author.
This brief is the third of four resulting from a May 2018 workshop held in Kuwait by the Baker Institute in partnership with the Alsalam Center for Strategic and Developmental Studies. This work is part of a two-year project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York on “Building Pluralistic and Inclusive States Post-Arab Spring.”
By Courtney Freer, London School of Economics
Cross-ideological movements uniting Islamist and secular groups have increasingly focused on sweeping political reforms instead of social policies and ideology in post-Arab Spring Kuwait, writes the author.
This brief is the second of four resulting from a May 2018 workshop held in Kuwait by the Baker Institute in partnership with the Alsalam Center for Strategic and Developmental Studies. This work is part of a two-year project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York on “Building Pluralistic and Inclusive States Post-Arab Spring.”
The Baker Institute's Presidential Elections Program held its inaugural conference, “Social Media, Changing Demographics and Implications of the 2016 Presidential Election,” in March 2018. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions of the more than two dozen individuals who participated in the conference’s four thematic panels as well as a lunch conversation featuring veteran political consultants David Axelrod and Karl Rove, who served as the conference's honorary directors.