Research Library

Attempts to undermine church-state separation in Texas reached a crescendo in 2023, writes nonresident scholar David R. Brockman. In this paper, he explores how three high-profile bills introduced during the state’s 88th legislative session threatened to tear down the wall between church and state.

This report explores the motives underlying Mexico’s contradictory climate change policies. Given the fossil fuel-centered actions of the López Obrador administration, the author argues that Mexico’s recent clean energy turn is merely an attempt to lower tensions with the U.S. — not a true commitment to combatting climate change.

Among the U.S. citizens migrating to Mexico in recent years are an unknown number of Americans who married Mexican citizens and were co-deported or departed voluntarily with their undocumented spouses, the authors report. Without improved consular services and a diaspora policy that anticipates the likely return of these Americans in the future, the authors worry that the United States risks re-inheriting a sizable U.S. population that may well require critical government services to reintegrate after a prolonged period abroad.

This paper reviews the attempts of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to push for reforms in the electricity sector that would strengthen the Comisión Federal de Electricidad, Mexico’s state-owned electric utility, while limiting the involvement of privately owned power companies.

As China’s power reaches its peak over the next decade, President Xi Jinping may make a bold move against Taiwan. To protect American interests and the rules-based order, the authors argue that the United States and its allies should immediately mobilize resources to deter Chinese aggression.

Mexico's complex land governance regime does not generate certainty for foreign investors, writes nonresident scholar Miriam Grunstein. In this paper, she explores land classifications in Mexico and the challenges investors may face when attempting to acquire acreage.

The authors examine the impact of the transition to low-carbon energy on Texas K-12 education funding.

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.

"China talks green but runs on coal," write the authors, who suggest leveraging the threat of carbon taxation to incentivize change in the PRC and help set a path toward preserving the Earth for future generations.

Morocco’s Party of Justice and Development offers the authors a rare opportunity to evaluate an Islamist party’s approach to the economy that can counter its own policies.