Mexico’s democracy examined in Baker Institute webinar

Ahead of upcoming midterm elections in Mexico, a half-day event from Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy will examine the future of democracy in the country.

A total of 21,368 elected positions will be on the ballot June 6 — with half of all state governorships and control of the lower house of Congress at stake — making it the largest single-day election in Mexico’s history. The webinar will include experts presenting and discussing the findings of a yearlong research project on the country’s political parties and the critical role they will play going forward.

The event will be presented in Spanish with simultaneous English interpretation.

The research project and webinar are joint efforts by the Baker Institute’s Center for the United States and Mexico and El Colegio de México, with panel moderation by Tony Payan, the Françoise and Edward Djerejian Fellow for Mexico Studies and director of the Center for the United States and Mexico; Rodrigo Montes de Oca, research scholar at the center; and journalist Ricardo Raphael.

The event includes a keynote address by Mauricio Merino Huerta, director of the Research Institute on Accountability and Fighting Corruption at the Universidad de Guadalajara and professor at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económica (CIDE).

What: Webinar, “Hanging in the Balance: Mexico’s Midterm Elections and the Future of its Democracy”

When: Thursday, May 27, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. CDT

Who:

• Panel 1: Democratic Governance and Political Parties includes Alejandro Díaz Domínguez, professor and researcher, Tecnológico de Monterrey; Soledad Loaeza, researcher, Center for International Studies, El Colegio de México; Javier Martín Reyes, professor, constitutional law, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económica; Gustavo López Montiel, adjunct researcher, Tecnológico de Monterrey; and Alejandro Poiré Romero, dean, School of Social Sciences and Government, Tecnológico de Monterrey.
• Panel 2: Electoral Dynamics includes Gisselle de la Cruz Hermida, researcher, Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez; José Fredman Mendoza, professor, Department of Social Sciences, Universidad de Monterrey; Reynaldo Ortega, professor and researcher, Center for International Studies, El Colegio de México; and Willibald Sonnleitner, professor and researcher, El Colegio de México.
• Panel 3: State of Political Parties in Mexico includes Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, nonresident scholar, Center for the United States and Mexico, Baker Institute; Dainzú López de Lara, professor, international relations, Universidad de las Americas Puebla (UDLAP); Víctor Manuel Reynoso, professor, international relations, UDLAP; and Jesús Alberto Rodriguez Alonso, professor, Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez.

Where: The webinar is free, but registration is required at https://riceconnect.rice.edu/Baker/USMX-future-democracy.