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A leading expert on Mexico politics and U.S./Mexico relations from Rice University is available to speak on the election of Mexico’s first female president Claudia Scheinbaum.
Tony Payan, director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, is able to speak on the political and economic outcome of Scheinbaum’s election for both the future of Mexico and the trade and immigration relationship between the U.S. and Mexico.
“For well over three decades, Mexico has been engaged in what can only be labeled as a search for democratic stability,” Payan wrote in a brief ahead of the election cycle. “After decades of single-party rule, Mexico’s Congress passed several substantive political and electoral reforms — in 1991, 1994, 1996, 2007, and the latest in 2014. Each of these reforms sought to facilitate Mexico’s transition to democracy by simultaneously opening the political system to competition and narrowly guiding political party activities and financing. However, despite the intention of these reforms, many observers believe they actually enabled those in power to tighten their stranglehold on Mexico’s democracy. Deeper democratization — the kind that engages civil society, encourages all to participate in decision-making, and holds politicians accountable for abuses of power — has remained elusive for Mexico.”
“These elections will, in effect, test the country’s ability to move forward on its democratic path. Will Mexico’s democracy advance, or will it succumb to the manipulations of those in power?”
Payan is also a professor of social sciences at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez in Chihuahua, Mexico.
To schedule an interview with Payan contact Avery Franklin, media relations specialist at Rice, at [email protected] or 713-348-6327.
Written by Avery Ruxer Franklin for Rice News.